Pastitsio

Pastitsio is the Greek version of Lasagne and just like Lasagne it is divine. Every Greek family has got a recipe of their own, but undoubtedly they all taste exquisite and the meat sauce has more of a Middle Eastern influence than an Italian one, as it contains the beautiful spices of cumin, cinnamon and paprika.

My grandmother use to make this quite regularly and it instantly became one of my favourite meals. Every time she said she was making it, I sue to go over, smell the beautiful Parmesan and immediately feel the hunger accumulating in my stomach. I guess it was just exciting to eat something that wasn’t a regular weekday meal. It made the day a little more exciting, a little more special.

For my 13^th birthday my aunty bought me this outrageously awesome cookbook “Falling Cloudberries” by Tessa Kiros. It has recipes from Finland, Greece, Cyprus, South Africa, Italy and practically the whole world. I am a massive cookbook collector and you could say am a bit obsessive with my cookbooks, reading them as if they’re enthralling literature novels. But, back to this cookbook, well this cookbook is the reason for my Pastitsio making skills. I remember the first time I made it, I read the recipe about 50 times making sure I followed it word for word, but now it comes so naturally and let me tell you there is no need to read this recipe 50 times because once you’ve got the main gist of it, you can alter it to suit the tastes of your family. Which is exactly what I have done, by adding a few more veggies, such as mushrooms, capsicums and zucchini to the mincemeat mixture, but you don’t have too. It’s completely up to you. Seriously there is nothing really that can go wrong with this dish just make sure there is a bit of you and your heart in it. If you don’t have the proper Pastitsio pasta it is not an issue, just use penne or rigatoni, but the Pastitsio pasta is available from most delicatessens and Greek grocery stores.

 Meat Sauce

4 tablespoons olive oil

2 large onions, chopped

4 tablespoons chopped parsley

2 garlic cloves, chopped

8 white button mushrooms, sliced

1 red capsicum, chopped

1 zucchini, sliced thinly

750g minced beef

1 bay leaf

1 cinnamon stick

½ teaspoon cumin

½ teaspoon paprika

½ teaspoon oregano

125ml white wine

400g tinned tomatoes, chopped

Salt and Pepper to taste

500g Pastitsio pasta (or penne/rigatoni)

30g of butter

Approximately 10 mint leaves sliced thinly

1 tablespoon grated parmesan

Béchamel Sauce

60g butter

4 tablespoons plain flour

pinch of nutmeg

2 cups milk

125g parmesan grated

Salt and Pepper to taste

Heat the oil in a large non-stick saucepan and fry the onion until it is soft and lightly golden. Add the garlic, mushrooms, capsicum and the zucchini. Fry for a couple of minutes until softened. Add the meat and fry until the meat turns brown. Season with salt and pepper, all the spices, the bay leaf and cinnamon stick and add the white wine and diced tomatoes. Add a cupful of boiling water and allow it to boil for 15-20 minutes. The meat shouldn’t be dry and there should still be some liquid. Remove from the heat.

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Meanwhile, cook the pasta in boiling salted water for 2 minutes less than it says on the packet, so it still has a bit fo a bite. Drain and place the butter in the pot the pasta was boiling and add the pasta back into it and mix through the mint and the butter using a wooden spoon. Grease a large rectangular ovenproof baking dish with olive oil. Pour half the pasta at the base of the dish. Pour the meat mixture on top of it and evenly disperse using the back of a wooden spoon. Pour the remaining pasta on top. Set aside while you make the béchamel sauce.

Melt the butter in a saucepan. Whisk in the flour and cook for a few minutes, stirring constantly, then begin adding the milk, Work quickly but gradually add the milk. When the sauce begins to thicken add a pinch of nutmeg, salt and pepper and the Parmesan. Continue cooking until the sauce is thick and creamy and the Parmesan has melted. Pour this over the top layer of pasta in the dish. Spread evenly with a rubber spatula. Sprinkle the 1tablespoon of Parmesan over the top and bake for 45-60 minutes or until golden on top. Let it cool for 10 minutes before cutting it into squares.