Greek Pastitsio (Baked Greek Lasagna with Meat Sauce and Béchamel)

Base Ingredients

• 350g (12 ounces) macaroni for Pastitsio (you can substitute penne or ziti)
• 110g feta cheese (4 ounces)
• 2 eggs

For the meat sauce

• 700g lean minced beef (25 ounces)
• 2 medium sized red onions (finely chopped)
• 2 cloves of garlic (chopped)
• 400g canned chopped tomatoes (14 ounces)
• 1 tbsp tomato puree
• 1 tsp sugar
• a glass of red wine
• a bay leaf
• 1 cinammon stick
• 1 whole clove
• 1/4 of a cup olive oil
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the béchamel

• 100g flour (3.5 ounces)
• 100g butter (3.5 ounces)
• 875ml milk (3 and 1/2 cups)
• 2 egg yolks
• 100g Parmigiano-Reggiano or Kefalotyri (3.5 ounces)
• a pinch of nutmeg

Instructions

1. To prepare this traditional pastitsio recipe, start by making the meat sauce. Heat a large pan to medium-high heat and add the olive oil. Stir in the chopped onions and sauté, until softened. Stir in the garlic, tomato puree and the beef (breaking it up with a wooden spoon) and sauté. Pour in the red wine and wait to evaporate. Add the tinned tomatoes, the sugar, cinnamon, clove, the bay leaf and season. Bring to the boil, turn the heat down and simmer with the lid on for about 30 minutes, until most of the juices have evaporated. (After the meat is cooked, remove the bay leaf, the clove and the cinnamon)
2. Prepare the béchamel sauce for the pastitsio. Use a large pan to melt the butter over low-medium heat. Add the flour whisking continuously to make a paste. Add warmed milk in a steady stream and keep whisking in order to prevent your sauce from getting lumpy. If the sauce still needs to thicken, boil over low heat whilst continuing to stir. Remove the pan from the stove and add the egg yolks, salt, pepper, a pinch of nutmeg and the grated cheese. Whisk quickly, in order to prevent the eggs from turning an omelette!
3. Cook the pasta for the pastitsio 2-3 minutes less than the package instructions, so that they don’t get mushy after turning out of the oven later. Drain the pasta and stir in the eggs and the feta cheese (smashed with a fork) and mix gently with a spatula.
4. Stir 1/4 of the bechamel sauce into the meat sauce.
5. For this pastitsio recipe you will need a large baking dish, approx. 20*30 cm. Butter the bottom and sides of a pan and assemble the pastitsio. Layer the pasta, top with the meat sauce and even out. Top the pastitsio with the béchamel sauce and smooth out with a spatula.
6. Sprinkle with grated cheese and bake the pastitsio in preheated oven at 180-200C for about 40 minutes, until crust turns a light golden brown. Let the pastitsio cool down for a while before serving.

Source:

http://www.mygreekdish.com/recipe/pastitsio/