Family Favorites Recipes
Pastitsio (Baked Macaroni)
I suppose this could be called the "comfort food" of Greek cooking. Pastitsio uses a béchamel sauce, one of the five mother sauces. My sister and I absolutely love this, and we used to make it all the time when we saw each other more often. But I also eat it at the St. Katherine's Greek Festival every year.
Prep: 25 min | Cook: 55 min | Yield: 8 to 12 servings
Ingredients
Macaroni
- 1 pound macaroni
- 1/4 pound butter
- 1 1/2 pounds ground turkey or beef
- 1/2 can tomato paste
- 6 ounces grated Romano or Parmesan cheese
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- Salt and pepper
Sauce
- 4 cups warm milk, divided
- 5 eggs
- 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 sticks butter
Instructions
Macaroni
- Cook macaroni (but not well done) in boiling, salted water and drain.
- Sauté onion in a little butter.
- Add ground meat and stir until brown.
- Add tomato paste, thinned with a little water.
- Add salt, pepper, cinnamon and nutmeg. Cook until meat is done.
- Melt butter; pour over drained macaroni, mixing carefully.
- Spread half of the macaroni on the bottom of a 13 x 9-inch pan.
- Sprinkle half of the grated cheese on top.
- Spread entire meat mixture on top.
- Cover with remaining macaroni and remaining grated cheese.
Sauce
- Boil 3 cups of the milk with 1 1/2 sticks butter.
- Add flour to remaining 1 cup milk and blend well.
- Add flour mixture to boiling butter and milk. Thicken and cool.
- After this has cooled, add 5 beaten eggs, or drop small amounts of the milk mixture into the eggs while stirring constantly. Once the egg mixture gets warm to hot, add the remaining milk.
- Pour sauce over the macaroni. Shake the pan and insert a knife to penetrate thoroughly.
- Bake at 350 degrees F for 40 to 45 minutes.
Attribution
From the kitchen of Kathryn Irene Jolly.