Pastitsio

Total Time: 2 hrs 35 mins Preparation Time: 1 hr 10 mins Cook Time: 1 hr 25 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 8
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 8 tablespoons flour
• salt
• 4 cups milk
• pepper
• 4 -6 egg yolks
• 8 ounces macaroni, cooked and drained (2 cups raw)
• 1 ounce butter
• salt
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• pepper, freshly ground
• 1 1/2 lbs ground beef
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1/2 cup dried breadcrumbs
• 3/4 cup red wine
• 1 1/2 cups kefalotyri or 1 1/2 cups parmesan cheese, grated
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Recipe

• 1 preheat oven to 350°f.
• 2 melt 1 oz of butter in large skillet and saute onion til soft and transparent. add the meat, cook until browned.
• 3 mix tomato paste with wine and add to meat. continue cooking, adding nutmeg, salt, pepper, and cinnamon.
• 4 cook about 15 minutes, take off heat, cool and mix in half the breadcrumbs and half the grated cheese. set aside. do not allow meat to "bulk", keep it separated.
• 5 cook the macaroni in boiling water with oil til soft. drain and set aside. make crema: melt butter, add flour, cook briefly stirring constantly.
• 6 gradually add milk stirring constantly until it starts to boil and thickens slightly.
• 7 add seasonings.
• 8 in a separate bowl, beat eggs.
• 9 add about 1 cup of the hot sauce to the eggs, stirring constantly.
• 10 add the egg mixture back into the saucepan, stirring constantly.
• 11 stir in 1/4 cup cheese. to assemble: grease a baking dish (like a lasagna pan) and sprinkle it with breadcrumbs.
• 12 spread half the cooked pasta over the bottom of the dish and sprinkle it with 1/4 cup reserved cheese. spread all of the meat over the pasta.
• 13 pour half the sauce over the meat and spread the rest of the pasta over it. sprinkle it with 2 tablespoons of cheese.
• 14 pour the rest of the sauce on top and smooth with a spatula.
• 15 sprinkle with the rest of the cheese and breadcrumbs and bake in the preheated oven 50-60 minutes.
• 16 let stand 10 minutes before cutting into squares.