Recipe - Pastitso

Karen Mintzias
500 g Long macaroni
4 tablespoon Butter
Three fourths cup Grated Kefalotyri cheese *
One fourth teaspoon Nutmeg
Salt & pepper
3 Eggs; lightly beaten

MEAT SAUCE
1 lg Onion; chopped
1 Garlic clove; crushed
2 tablespoon Butter
750 kg Ground beef
One fourth cup Tomato paste
One half cup Dry red or white wine
One half cup Stock
2 tablespoon Chopped parsley
One half teaspoon Sugar
Salt and pepper

CREAM SAUCE
1/3 cup Butter
One half cup Flour
3 cup Milk
One fourth teaspoon Nutmeg
Salt and pepper
1 Egg; lightly beaten

*Note: if Kefalotyri cheese is unavailable, Parmesan may be used instead.

Serves: 12 as a first course; 68 as a main course Cooking time: 11/2
hours Oven temperature: 180 C (350 F)

Cook macaroni in boiling, salted water until just tender. Drain and return
to pan.

Melt butter until golden brown and pour over macaroni. Add One half cup of the
cheese, the nutmeg, salt and pepper to taste and toss well. Leave until
cool, add eggs and toss again. Keep aside.

Make meat sauce. Gently fry onion and garlic in butter until onion is
soft, increase heat and add ground beef. Stir well and cook until meat
begins to brown. Add remaining meat sauce ingredients, cover and simmer
over gentle heat for 20 minutes.

Make cream sauce. Melt butter in a saucepan, stir in flour and cook gently
for 2 minutes. Add milk all at once and bring to the boil, stirring
constantly. Boil gently for 1 minute. Add nutmeg, salt and pepper to taste
and cool a little before stirring in beaten egg. Add One half cup of this sauce
to the cooked meat sauce.

To assemble Pastitso, butter a 33 x 23 x 8 cm (13 x 9 x 3 inch) oven dish.
Spoon half of the prepared macaroni evenly in the base and top with the
meat sauce. Cover with remaining macaroni, levelling top.

Pour on cream sauce and spread to completely cover macaroni. Sprinkle
remaining cheese on top and cook in a moderate oven for 50 minutes until
golden brown. Let stand for 10 minutes before cutting into squares to
serve.

From: "The Complete Middle East Cookbook" by Tess Mallos. ISBN: 1 86302 069
1

Typed for you by Karen Mintzias

From Gemini's MASSIVE MealMaster collection at www.synapse.com/~gemini