Mblah's Pastichio not to be confused with pistachio!

This is considered a Greek lasagna. It has many different variations depending on what part of Greece you get the recipe from. The hardest thing to find when you don't have any specialty food shops is the cheese! However there are substitutes!

Hope you like it!

Mblah's Pastichio!

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Ingredients

meat sauce ingredients

1 1/2- 2lbs of ground beef or veal or you can mix and use 1lb of each
1 large yellow onion or 2 medium ones finely diced
1/2 tsp rosemary (I used fresh, dry can be used)
1/2 tbs parsley (again I used fresh but dry can be used)
2 cloves of garlic thinly grated or 3/4 tsp of garlic powder if you dont have garlic
1 1/2 cups of tomato juice or you can use a 1/4 cup of tomato paste diluted in a 1 1/2 cups of water
2 bay leaves
1/4 cup white wine
1/2 tsp cinnamon
S&P for seasoning

about a 1/4 cup of sliced black olives or Greek olives for the top when finished and ready to bake.

pasta ingredients

1.5 lbs of rotini pasta (a box and a half)
2 tbs EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)
3 egg whites beaten (save the yolks)
1/4 cup Kefalotyri cheese grated or if you don't have it grated parmesan is fine.

Bechamel Sauce Ingredients

4 cups of scaled milk
1 cup of all purpose flour
3/4 cup grated Kefalotyri or Parmesan if you don't have the Greek cheese
1/2 cup salted butter
3 egg yolks (heavily beaten)
1/2 tsp black pepper
3/4 tsp ground nutmeg


Directions

Heat the olive oil in a skillet and sautee the onions. Add the veal or beef to the pan and brown. Then add garlic, wine, tomato juice, cinnamon, salt, pepper and bay leaves. Reduce heat and cover and simmer for 30mins. Stir occasionally....The meat shall absorb the liquids when done. Once it is done remove the bay leaves.

In a large pot cook pasta til almost done about 75% cooked, the rest will cook while baking. Melt the butter in a deep sauce pan (you need a deep sauce pan). Slowly add the flour, then hot milk while continuing to constantly stir the butter and flour paste til it's smooth in consistency. Remove the pan from the heat and add the grated cheese, nutmeg, pepper and egg yolks while continuing to rapidly stir the sauce mixture.

Now drain the pasta and return to heat (you dont need to keep burner on it will stay warm) and add the 2tbs of EVOO and mix to make sure the pasta is fully coated evenly. Then remove from heat and let cool just a few mins then add the 3 egg whites and cheese and mix well.

Now rub a little olive oil in your pan (11x15 size is recommended otherwise it wont fit!) put about 2/3 of the pasta mixture at the bottom then spread the meat mixture over it, then put the remaining pasta on top of the meat mixture and spread out evenly. Lastly you want to pour the bechamel sauce over the last layer of pasta and spread out evenly. Top with sliced black olives or chopped Greek olives if you can find them and sprinkle fresh parsley over the top and cook at 350 for 30-35mins.

You MUST let it sit and cool before eating. It is actually best to let it refrigerate overnight and then reheat when ready to serve other wise the cheese and layers wont bind together. I put mine in the fridge for about 4hrs and then served it.

I also made Horiatiko Psomi: Crusty Country Bread
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/b9be014381ed.jpg[/atsimg]

I will post this recipe at a later time

I'm already hungry and you made me more hungry! That looks simply delicious! Now, I'm going to go eat right now.

If you can't find Kefalotyri, you can always substitute it with Gruyere, more commonly found in most grocery stores.

And that looks delicious.

reply to post by _BoneZ_


Haha yeah I have been accused of making people hungry daily!

My friend even blamed me, jokingly of course, for her baking cookies at midnight last night

It is very easy to make, just don't burn the sauce!

Originally posted by amaster
If you can't find Kefalotyri, you can always substitute it with Gruyere, more commonly found in most grocery stores.

And that looks delicious.

Yea we didn't have that either, the parmesan worked great but I prefer to have the right cheese. Im a stickler like that with cooking but it came out just fine.

There is a specialty cheese shop where I use to live and next time i go there which will be in a couple weeks Im gonna stock up on cheeses. It will cost a pretty penny but OH the things i can make then!!!

Originally posted by amaster
If you can't find Kefalotyri, you can always substitute it with Gruyere, more commonly found in most grocery stores.

And that looks delicious.

Actually the lady at the deli said her mom lived in Greece for 5yrs and she has made this but used Feta cheese. I wasn't too keen on the Feta idea since they are different types of cheese. I needed a dry cheese but I might try it next time to see how it holds up.

reply to post by mblahnikluver


I was going to suggest Feta, since it's still a greek cheese, but the texture and taste would be off. I'm sure it would still be delicious, but not the intended taste of the dish. Parm is probably the next best and readily available cheese.

Be sure to pick up some Mascarpone for some awesome crepes with fresh strawberry sauce.

That look's really nice mblah

I subscribed to the thread

Bread look's good too. Donno if i'll find the ingredients, but maybe I do, there is a big market in Barcelona where all the top chefs go and get their bit's, i'll have to go check it out.

Good stuff. S&F.

ok, erm...

remove the olives, wrap it in bread and turn it into a hot pocket instructions please for us single men.

or..bah, just gimme some of yours!

Originally posted by amaster
reply to post by mblahnikluver

 

I was going to suggest Feta, since it's still a greek cheese, but the texture and taste would be off. I'm sure it would still be delicious, but not the intended taste of the dish. Parm is probably the next best and readily available cheese.

Be sure to pick up some Mascarpone for some awesome crepes with fresh strawberry sauce.

Yeah that was my thought on the feta. It wont harden and hold together in layers but I might make a scaled version to try it since my bf likes feta.

I was going to make baklava to go with it but my sink got clogged and still is so everything got pushed back time wise and by 8:30pm with the bread I was done cooking lol

Mmmmm Mascarpone!

reply to post by Dr Cosma


Thanks

Well you are closer to Greece than me lol you might get the right cheeses!

Originally posted by SaturnFX
ok, erm...

remove the olives, wrap it in bread and turn it into a hot pocket instructions please for us single men.

or..bah, just gimme some of yours!

Haha Saturn! You don't have to use olives

I dated a Greek guy years ago and learned how to make Greek food. It is a favorite of mine to make but a lot of what I like to make it's hard to find ingredients anywhere in this area. I tried World Market but they really don't have all that much in the way of foods and most of their stuff isn't all that special...Where I use to live they had a few specialty shops. I wish we had a European market here...OMG I'd shop there all the time!


Hmmm I could make a hot pocket in the form of Stromboli

reply to post by mblahnikluver




Greek food.
Their cucumber sauce stuff they put on gyros is pretty addicting. wouldn't mind making a big tub of that and perhaps some lambs meat..

actually, you want to gain my attention, make a do it yourself super gyro recipe.

Originally posted by SaturnFX
reply to post by mblahnikluver

 

Greek food.
Their cucumber sauce stuff they put on gyros is pretty addicting. wouldn't mind making a big tub of that and perhaps some lambs meat..

actually, you want to gain my attention, make a do it yourself super gyro recipe.

I LOVE that sauce! It's called Tzatziki sauce

Gyros are pretty easy too, I think I might have to make those next week

I have given this out to a few people already and they love it!

I had to share the recipe with a few already as well.