Pastitsio

I caught a five second glimpse of Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives with Guy Fieri on Food Network, and he was doing a segment on a diner that served Pastitsio. I had never heard of that dish, but it looked interesting. It is a greek version of lasagna - ziti layered with a meat and tomato sauce, and cheese, and topped with a bechamel sauce, then baked.  Being that anything pasta tops the charts in my list of favorites, I had to try it.

First, you brown ground beef with onion and garlic. I used one pound of ground beef, and just under a half pound of ground pork. Then, I drained the fat, and added tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, and cinnamon. While that simmered, I boiled the ziti, drained it, then added butter and grated parmesan cheese, and let it cool a bit.  After it cooled, I beat a few eggs, then mixed them into the pasta.  Then, I made the bechamel, a little thicker than normal.  I let that cool a bit, then added a beaten egg into it. (Egg is a binder, and a thickener.)  Then, I broke out my biggest glass pan, and added half of the pasta. I sprinkled on a handful of parmesan cheese, then added all of the meat mixture. Then the rest of the pasta, more cheese, and then I got a little nervous - the pasta and meat alone came to almost the top edge of the pan. If the bechamel was too thin, it would run over the edges and make the biggest mess EVER. I spooned it on at first, and sure enough, it was thick enough - it didn't budge.  I poured the rest on, and spread it a bit to cover the top, and picked up the pan to put in the oven. Holy COW that sucker was heavy - it DEFINITELY outweighed the Polish lasagne, which I thought was EPIC heavy.  I baked it for an hour, the tantalizing sent of beef and cinnamon and bechamel teasing me the entire time. I let it sit for about 20 minutes before cutting into it, to make sure it would stay together.  It worked, the pastistio cut beautifully into perfect squares. And the taste, oh, it was happy.  The cheese laced throughout gave every bite a nice flavor, and the creamy bechamel on top gave the dish such a nice change from traditional lasagne.  This dish is certainly a keeper, although I think I will reserve it for the days that I have several hours to cook - from start time until actually eating time was about 3 hours.

I pulled my frozen Elk meat out of the freezer this morning - I am going to try something with Elk and puff pastry.I haven't decided what, yet... I'm still thinking Elk Pot Pie, but now I'm wondering about Pasties...