Inevitably, if you talk with someone long enough, the topic will turn to food. One of my favorite recipes is one I got from my Mom for the Greek lasagna, pastitso. Now, you may find other recipes for pastitso out there – I know for a fact that this one doesn’t entirely resemble the one it was born from (if for no other reason than there are a few minor changes even I’ve made). I know a few people I’ve promised this recipe to, so I thought this would be the easiest way to share it with everyone. And to make it even more spiffy, I’ve added photos 🙂
As a side note, this may be the only post where I include live photos of my cooking something – my loving wife did not quite have the same level of enthusiasm or appreciation of the creative force at work as I did. Something about taking photos in the kitchen on a Saturday.
OK, let’s start with the ingredients you’ll need:
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OK, let’s get started!
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First, let’s deal with that onion.
We’re going to dice it up. Now, we like to use only half an onion, because not everyone in our family likes the heavy taste of onion, but tastes vary, so do what suits you best. I like to cut the onion in half, slice it in strips perpendicular to the layers, then finish up the dicing. Meh. |
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| Now, in a frying pan start cooking the hamburger. Cook until nicely browned. |  |
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Take the diced onion and add it in with the meat, stirring and sautéing them together. Now take our can of diced tomatoes and add it to the hamburger. Yes, I know, we could have diced a tomato ourselves. We also could have planted tomato plants in buckets in the backyard, spent months nurturing them to ripe perfection, and only when the skin was taunt in the warm afternoon sun would we slice into the juicy fruit that is the root of most of my recipes.
Or we could just get a 59 cent can of diced tomatoes and be done with it. You decide. But you know where I stand on this. |
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What about the other half of the cup of Parmesan? Glad you asked! Mix it in with the hamburger mix, season with some salt and pepper, and let that simmer. Once the cheese melts in, this can actually sit and simmer for a little while. Just don’t get caught sampling 🙂 |
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In a small saucepan over low/medium heat, take the stick of butter and melt it down. When it’s all melted, slowly add in the six tablespoons of flour. Be sure to stir in each tablespoon completely before adding the next – the smooth consistency now will translate into heavenly taste later. |
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In the saucepan our butter and flour mix should be starting to bubble. First, we’re going to add three cups of milk, slowly! Once its all mixed together, set the heat on medium and bring this to a boil. Keep stirring that if you can. When it starts to boil, take out our cup of grated Parmesan and mix in half of it and bring it back to a boil. Let it boil for about 3 to 5 minutes. |
| In a bowl, take two eggs. |   |
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Now beat them together. |
| Mix in the hot sauce and set aside, being sure to stir on occasion to avoid curdling. |   |
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But wait, there’s more! We need to boil some water. Maybe add a pinch of salt and/or some olive oil, but that’s really a taste and preference issue. Once the water is going, add your pasta. Like I said before, we lean towards rigatone ourselves. Other noodles will work – but not any noodle. For some rather obvious reasons, you’ll want to avoid the linguine and spaghetti noodles 🙂 |  |
| OK, I think we have everything together, let’s mix it up! First, you need to grease a baking dish. |  |
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I prefer the old plastic-bag-as-glove routine, but you can do it your way. If you must. |
| After you drain the noodles, put a small bit into the baking dish. |  |
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Next, add the hamburger, then top with the remainder of the noodles. |
| Finally, pour the stirred egg sauce over the top. |  |
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Set in the oven at about 350 and bake for 20-30 minutes. |
| It’ll be nice and golden along the edges when its ready. |  |
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Let it cool for a few minutes, dish, and serve! |
