Pastitsio, the easy way!

Pastitsio... one of my lastest favorite dishes.  I'm sad that, until a few months ago, I had never heard of this wonderful dish. 

I don't think that I'm alone in that, though, so just in case you're wondering "what on earth is pastitsio?" I'll share the Wikipedia definition! 

According to Wikipedia:

Pastitsio (Greek: παστίτσιο; IPA: [paˈsti.tsi.o]) is

 a Greek baked pasta dish.

Pastitsio is a layered baked dish. There are variations throughout the regions of Greece but typically the bottom layer is bucatini or

 other tubular pasta with cheese and egg as a binder; the

 second layer is ground meat (beef, veal or lamb)

 with tomato and nutmeg or allspice; the third is another layer of

 pasta; and the top layer varies from an egg-based custard to a flour-

basedBéchamel or

 a Béchamel with cheese known as Mornay sauce in France. Grated cheese is often sprinkled on top and 

a dusting of nutmeg makes the dish classically

 Greek.

I really like making my particular Pastitsio recipe because it's

 pretty simple to make, but doesn't contain a ton of prepared/canned stuff.  I'm not too thrilled with using lots of canned products- in fact, the

 ONLY canned products that I generally am willing to deal with are canned tomato products.  Other canned vegetables pretty much gross me out, for one reason or another, so they

 never make it into my pantry.

***Helpful hint for today: PLEASE use fresh ground nutmeg in this recipe... not the pre-ground

 nasty junk that comes in the little boxes.  Whole nutmeg is readily available in the spice section at any grocery

 store- Kroger even carries their own "private selection" brand.  Whole nutmeg kind of resembles whole pecans (that are still in their shell)-

 bigger than an acorn, but not horribly huge.  I guess approximately about an inch or so in length.***

***One of the BEST investments that I have made for my kitchen is my microplane/zester/grater.  It's such a handy-dandy utensil! Great for zesting lemons, but also fabulous for finely grating parmesan, fresh ginger, cinnamon sticks, nutmeg, or pretty much anything else that needs to be grated finely :) Not very expensive, easy to store, and handy to have!

Now, without further adieu, the recipe!

Pastitsio

(Printable Recipe)

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef

1 1/2 cups mild picante sauce (you can blend it more if you don't like chunnks!)

1 can (8 oz) tomato sauce

1 tablespoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (fresh ground ROCKS if possible!)

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg, divided(grating it fresh yourself makes the dish tastier!)

8 oz uncooked elbow macaroni (or other tubular pasta)

6 tablespoons butter

6 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 1/4 cups milk

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

4 eggs, beaten

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese (parmesan reggiano is wonderful!)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Lightly spray 9-inch square baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.

2. Brown beef in large skillet over medium-high heat, stirring to break up meat.  Drain fat. Add picante sauce, tomato sauce, sugar, allspice, cinnamon and 1/8 tsp nutmeg. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, 10 minutes, stirring frequently.

3. Meanwhile, cook macaroni according to package directions; drain. Place in prepared baking dish.

4. (we're making a simple bechamel sauce to start with)Melt butter in medium saucepan over medium heat. Add flour; mix until smooth.  Add milk; cook and stir until thickened.  Remove from heat.  Add about 1/2 cup white sauce to eggs; stir to blend thoroughly.  Add egg mixture to remaining white sauce in saucepan.  Stir in cheese.

5. Stir about 1/2 cup white sauce into macaroni; toss to coat completely. Spread meat sauce over macaroni.  Top with remaining white sauce. Sprinkle with remaining 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg.  Bake, uncovered, 30 to 40 minutes or until knife inserted into center comes out clean.  Let stand 15-20 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!!!!!