Recipe - Aegean Casserole

**White Sauce**
4 cup Milk
One fourth cup Butter or margarine
2/3 cup Allpurpose flour
One half Bay leaf
1 teaspoon Salt
1/3 cup Freshly grated Parmesan
cheese
REST: :
6 cup Eggplant; finely minced
2 teaspoon Salt; divided
1 tablespoon Olive oil; (plus one 1 tsp
more)
1 cup Onions; finely chopped
2 teaspoon Minced garlic
One half teaspoon Cinnamon
1 pn Ground red pepper
1 pound Lean ground beef
One half teaspoon Dried mint flakes
One half teaspoon Freshly ground pepper
One fourth cup Tomato paste
1 cn (28oz) tomatoes
1/3 cup Fresh flatleaf parsley;
chopped
1 pack (16oz) ziti pasta; cook
according to pk

1. Make White Sauce: Bring milk to boil in medium saucepan over high heat.
Melt butter in large, heavy saucepan over medium heat Add flour and cook,
whisking, 1 minute. Gradually whisk in milk, bay leaf and salt; bring to
boil, whisking. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring, 10 minutes. Remove from
heat. Discard bay leaf and stir in Parmesan.

2. Toss eggplant with 1 teaspoon salt; drain in colander 30 minutes. Pat
dry. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in large skillet over mediumhigh heat. Add
eggplant and cook, stirring, until tender, 10 to 15 minutes.

3. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Add remaining 1 teaspoon oil to skillet. Add
onions and cook until tender, 5 minutes. Stir in garlic, cinnamon and red
pepper; cook 15 seconds. Add meat, mint, remaining 1 teaspoon and teaspoon
salt and the pepper; cook, stirring, until meat is no longer pink. Add
tomato paste and tomatoes, breaking up tomatoes with spoon. Add eggplant
and bring to simmer; simmer 10 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in
parsley.

4. Transfer cooked ziti to large bowl and stir in 1 cup White Sauce. Spread
half the ziti in bottom of deep 5quart casserole. Spoon on filling, then
remaining ziti and White Sauce. Bake uncovered 25 to 35 minutes, until
bubbly and browned.

Per serving: 339 Calories; 22g Fat (58% calories from fat); 16g Protein;
20g Carbohydrate; 74mg Cholesterol; 1039mg Sodium

NOTES : We combined the flavors of our favorite Greek specialtiesmoussaka
and pastitsioto create a new classic.

Recipe by: LHJ

Posted to MCRecipe Digest by Lisa Minor lisa@cybermill.com on Feb 4,
1998