Pastitsio

Pastitsio is a very common Greek dish. Every Greek housewife who respects herself makes pastitsio approximately once every fifteen days. It is not difficult, it just needs time, because it is composed of three different dishes. Boiled pasta, ground meat sauce and Béchamel sauce. Through the years I substituted béchamel sauce to Mornay sauce. For the people who do not know the difference, béchamel sauce is made with butter, flour, milk, eggs and salt and pepper. Mornay sauce consists of all the above plus cheese and ground nutmeg. I like the latter more, because melted cheese is one of my favorite flavors. Usually what happens is that one day I cook pasta Bolognese and next day I make pastitsio with the left overs. You can use any type of pasta you like except spaghetti. In Greece we make it with thick macaroni which looks like a straw. I do it with any pasta I can find in my closet. It is a comfort food we all love in this family. I am sending this to Presto Pasta Nights an idea of Ruth Daniels hosted by her this week. I am also linked to Family Food Fridays at Get Healthy Cheap.

Boil pasta according to your liking. Be careful not to be too soft as it will be further cooked in the oven.

For the ground beef

In a skillet put the 3 tbsp of olive oil in high heat and sauté the onion for couple of minutes. Then throw the ground beef and sauté for 3 minutes. Throw the wine and continue sauté, until all wine is absorbed. Next throw the chopped tomatoes, salt, cinnamon, ground nutmeg, sugar and bay leaves. Lower heat to low and simmer for 50.

For the sauce mornay

In another skillet we put the butter at medium heat and add the flour. We cook for a minute or two and then we add the milk. We stir until the sauce starts to thicken and then we add the egg, the salt, the spices and cheese. It should be a rather creamy batter, not too thick. If by any chance becomes thicker than what it should, you can add some milk to it. If it is too runny, you can add 1 tbsp of corn flour dissolved in a 1 tbsp of water.

Butter generously a pan or a Pyrex and throw the pasta. Above it spread the ground meat sauce. Spread ½ cup of parmigiano and continue with the sauce Mornay. Preheat oven to 175° C and bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown on top.