Description
Greek Pastitsio is a classic baked pasta dish layered with a savory spiced beef sauce and a creamy béchamel topping, perfect for a comforting family dinner. Featuring tender pasta, a fragrant cinnamon-infused meat sauce, and a rich cheese béchamel, this hearty recipe delivers authentic Mediterranean flavors in every bite.
Ingredients
Pasta
- 250 g pastitsio noodles or dried penne pasta (~9 oz)
Meat Sauce
- 1 ½ cups sliced mushrooms
- ½ small onion, finely diced
- 2 large cloves garlic, minced
- ½ large red capsicum, finely diced
- 500 g beef mince (~1 lb)
- 1 ⅓ cups tomato passata (puree) (400 ml)
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- ½ cup fresh parsley, lightly packed, roughly chopped
- ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ¼ cup water (60 ml)
- ½ tablespoon olive oil
Béchamel Sauce
- 170 g butter (6 oz / 1½ sticks)
- ¾ cup plain flour (all purpose flour) (95 g / ~3 oz)
- 4 cups whole milk
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 ½ cups finely grated kefalotyri cheese or parmesan cheese (not packed)
- 2 large eggs
Instructions
- Preheat the oven: Set your oven to 200°C (180°C fan forced) / 395°F to prepare for baking.
- Cook the pasta: Boil 6 cups of water with a tablespoon of salt. Once boiling, add the pasta and cook until just tender. Drain and transfer the pasta to a roughly 9x12 inch baking dish.
- Prepare the meat sauce base: In a large skillet or frying pan, heat ½ tablespoon olive oil over medium-high heat. Cook the mushrooms until they start to color, then add the onion, garlic, and capsicum. Sauté for 3-4 minutes until softened.
- Brown the mince: Add the beef mince to the pan and cook, turning regularly, until browned all over.
- Add sauce ingredients: Stir in the tomato passata, tomato paste, parsley, cinnamon, salt, oregano, and pepper. Rinse the passata bottle with water and add that to the pan.
- Simmer the meat sauce: Mix well and reduce heat to very low. Let the sauce simmer gently for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally until thickened and no longer watery.
- Make the béchamel sauce - melt butter: In a large saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. You can reuse the pasta pot for this step after draining the pasta.
- Add flour: Whisk in the flour and cook for about a minute, stirring constantly to keep the mixture smooth.
- Add milk gradually: Continue whisking while slowly adding milk until fully incorporated and the sauce is smooth. Lower heat and cook for 3-5 minutes until the béchamel thickens and coats the back of a spoon.
- Finish béchamel: Remove from heat. Set aside ⅓ cup of grated cheese and add the remainder to the sauce along with salt and pepper. Whisk until smooth.
- Incorporate eggs: Separate the eggs. Mix a few spoonfuls of the hot béchamel with the egg yolks, then quickly whisk this mixture back into the béchamel sauce to combine.
- Cool before assembling: Let the pasta, meat sauce, and béchamel cool for about 10 minutes to make layering easier.
- Mix pasta layer: Combine the pasta with one egg white, ¼ cup of béchamel, and the reserved ⅓ cup of cheese. Mix well, then spread the pasta evenly in the baking dish and press down gently to flatten.
- Add meat sauce layer: Pour the meat sauce over the pasta and spread evenly.
- Add béchamel top layer: Pour the remaining béchamel sauce over the meat layer and smooth it out.
- Bake: Place the dish in the oven and bake for about 40 minutes until the top is golden brown.
- Rest before serving: Let the pastitsio cool for at least 15 minutes before slicing to allow it to set and achieve clean, square servings.
- Enjoy and share: Take a moment to leave a comment and rating if you enjoyed this recipe; it’s helpful and appreciated!
Notes
- Use pastitsio noodles or dried penne pasta as a suitable substitute.
- For perfectly cooked pasta, boil until just tender to avoid sogginess after baking.
- Kefalotyri cheese can be substituted with parmesan if unavailable.
- Letting the dish rest before serving helps it set for neat slicing.
- This recipe can be prepared ahead and baked just before serving for convenience.
