Pastitsio Recipe
1 lb. macaroni
1/4 lb. butter
1 1/2 lbs. beef or turkey, ground
1/2 can of tomato paste
1 chopped med. onion
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
Pepper & salt for seasoning
Sauce:
6 tbsps. flour
4 cups of warm milk
3/4 cup butter
5 eggs
Macaroni should be cooked inside a pot of salty boiling water until it has slightly cooked then drain it well. On a skillet, saute the onions in a small amount of butter & add in the meat then cook just until the meat has browned.
Add in tomato paste and thin it using a small amount of water. Season with some pepper, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon then continue to cook just until the meat has cooked thoroughly.
Melt some butter & spread this on cooked macaroni then be sure to mix it well. Place half of cooked macaroni inside the bottom of a pan, measuring around 13×9-inch. Layer some grated cheese atop then follow with the whole batch of meaty mixture atop the cheese. Lastly, cover top with the remainder of macaroni & more grated cheese.
To make the sauce: In a pot, boil 3 cups of milk & 3/4 cup of butter. In a cup, dissolve flour in the other cup of milk then add this mixture into boiling milk & butter. Continue to cook simmering until the mixture thickens and let it cool.
After it cools down, add eggs that have been beaten or you can gradually add in milk mixture onto the beaten eggs & stir to incorporate well.
If egg mix is heated with the addition of warm milk mixture then add all of your milk and butter mixture.
Evenly spread out this sauce to the top of your macaroni dish that was assembled earlier and shake the dish and plunge a knife and thoroughly penetrate it.
Bake in the oven for about 40-45 mins. at around 350′ F.