Pastitio

This image is Bacchus before Pastitio. Click for after.
Food of the gods (The Greek kind).
Pastitio is a layered dish with bechamel and meat sauce covering bread crumbs and pasta. A treat with a long history, there is evidence of the Greeks enjoying pastitio since before the times of the Trojan war (1200 B.C.). Original Greek recipes describe pastitio as stale bread covered with a rich meat sauce. A base filling disguised as a heavenly offering. No doubt this was a clever ploy Greek mothers invented to get leftover bread eaten up. It is said, the night Odysseus thought up the Trojan horse he supped on pastitio. If this dish was his inspiration then I suppose generations of Greek mothers should get the credit for winning that war.

Ingredients

• 2 pounds ground beef


• 1 large yellow onion finely chopped


• 1 cup red wine


• 1 cup tomato sauce


• 1/2 cup water


• 2 t. nutmeg


• 1/2 cup chopped parsley


• 4 eggs


• 1 pound ziti pasta


• 1 1/2 cups bread crumbs


• 6 T. butter


• 6 T. flour


• 3 cups milk


• Parmesian cheese

Method

1. Oil a large 16" x 9" baking dish.


2. Prepare the zitti in boiling salted water. Rinse with cold water to arrest cooking when the pasta is "Al Dente."


3. Brown meat with onions. Drain.


4. Return to heat. Add wine, water, and tomato sauce.


5. Season sauce to taste with salt, pepper, nutmeg, cinnamon, and parsley


6. Cook until liquids are absorbed.


7. Set aside to cool.


8. Now to make the bechamel heat the milk nearly to a boil in the microwave.


9. In a small saucepan melt the butter.


10. Add the flour and using a whisk, mix into a paste.


11. Now adding the milk and stiring quickly until it thickens


12. Season with salt and pepper and set the beschamel aside to cool.


13. Now crack 2 eggs into the meat sauce and stir.


14. Mix 2 yolks into the cooled beschamel


15. Finally put a layer of bread crumbs in the dish, then a layer of pasta, then a layer of bread, then a layer of pasta, and top it with the meat sauce. Then top it with the beschamel. Top that with a dusting of nutmeg and grated parmesian.

Bake the whole thing at 350 degrees for 45 minutes and get ready for the meal that launched one thousand ships. By the way, I made all that stuff up about the history of the dish.