An Alternative to Lasagna

I’ve often seen lasagna (or is it lasagne? I don’t know my Italian) recommended as a Christmas party main dish, as it can easily be prepared in advance and then needs little supervision after it’s pulled out of the fridge and placed in the oven. Also, who doesn’t like at least some recipe for lasagna? It’s filling, comforting, festive (because it does take forever to prepare so isn’t exactly an everyday thing), and inexpensive to make for a crowd.

Still, since it is Christmas, why not mix things up a little and try a different variation on baked pasta as your entrée? In walks a Greek favorite — pastitsio!

For Christmas of 2005, Scott and I made both an enormous pan of lasagna and an enormous pan of pastitsio for the family Christmas celebration. I’d tried pastitsio for the first time at Erie’s summertime Greek festival, and I loved it so much that I wanted an excuse to make it myself. Since I knew lasagna was considered a festive pasta dish, I decided I could get away with trying pastitsio alongside, knowing that if everyone turned out to be too picky to try it there would at least be a fallback.

As it turned it, the pastitsio, not the (admittedly rather soggy) homemade lasagna, turned out to be the hit of the party. Guests raved about the spicy beef and cheesy crema, and though we had at least a quarter of the lasagna leftover, there was practically not a crumb left of the pastitsio.

Which kind of sucked, actually, because it was really good and I definitely wouldn’t have minded having more later. The meat mixture is like a delicious Cincinnati-style chili (or Greek sauce, if you will), and the pasta is insanely delicious with all that pecorino cheese mixed in.

Unfortunately, I cannot find the exact recipe we used back then on the Food Network’s site. It was a recipe that came from a restaurant or festival rather than one of their chefs, and so I guess it was a limited time deal. Still, although this recipe doesn’t look exactly as I remember it, it does look awfully close as far as the ingredients go. Maybe it is the same but my memory is faulty.

When we made the pastitsio, we boiled the pasta and cooked the meat mixture on Christmas Eve. We assembled the recipe up to that point in the pan and refrigerated it. The next day, we mixed up the crema layer right before we put the pastitsio in the oven to bake.

Pastitsio
Source: Stamie Koutouzis
Yield: 20 servings

• ½ lb. butter, plus 4 ounces melted
• 1 ½ lbs. ground chuck
• 1 onion, chopped fine
• Salt and pepper
• 1 can (12-ounces) tomatoes
• 1 can (12-ounces) tomato sauce
• 1 bay leaf
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 lb. ziti rigate or penne
• 3 cups grated pecorino Romano
• ¾ cup flour
• 3 ½ cups whole milk
• 5 eggs

In a hot pan melt 4 ounces of butter, add ground chuck, chopped onion, salt, and pepper. Add tomatoes and tomato sauce, bay leaf, and cinnamon and cook over medium flame for about 35 minutes.

Cook macaroni in boiling water, strain and put back in pot to keep warm.

Place a 1/4 of the grated cheese in a 11 by 14-inch pan, and then a layer with 1/3 of the pasta. Continue until both ingredients are used up. Spread on the meat sauce.

Mix the final layer, the Pastitsio Crema by mixing 4 ounces of melted, cooled butter and 3/4 cup of flour. Heat 3 1/2 cups of milk and pour a little over flour and butter mixture then pour the rest of the mixture into the milk. Add 5 beaten eggs and stir thoroughly over medium flame until mixture thickens. Pour the crema on top of the meat sauce and bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 1 hour or until brown. Cool for 1 hour before cutting.

Download Pastitsio into MacGourmet.