Oh friends, do I have a treat for you today! Do you like Greek food? Perhaps, you’ve never had it… that’s okay! Today I wanted to share with you a ridiculously tasty meal…Pastichio, or Pastitsio…There seems to be a few different ways of spelling it!
This Greek-Style Lasagna is one of those meals that is great to have on hand in your freezer! It’s meaty, hearty and absolutely delicious with its layers of pasta, ground meat, and béchamel cheese sauce on top. It’s not the easiest meal you’ll ever make, but do it on a Saturday afternoon, while watching “My Big Fat Greek Wedding.” 🙂 I only cook this when my husbands off work. We do it together and make enough for 3-4 trays. It’s a fun afternoon and a cheap date 😉
This recipe makes 2 large 9×11 pans and serves at least 10-12…If you only want to make 1 pan…split the measurements in half! 🙂 Enjoy!
Here’s what you’ll need…
- 2 lbs ziti noodles
- 2 9×11 lasagna pans
For the Meat Sauce:
- 6 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 large chopped yellow onions
- 4 stalks finely chopped celery
- 6 finely chopped carrots
- 6 minced garlic cloves
- 2 lbs. lean ground beef
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 3 tablespoons ground cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons dried oregano
- 2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves
- pinch of cumin
- pinch of sugar
- 1 can (28 ounces) crushed tomatoes in puree
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the Bechamel:
- 3 cups whole milk
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 stick of unsalted butter
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 1/2 cups grated Parmesan
- 4 extra-large eggs (beaten)
Okay, here’s the step by steps…
- Preheat your oven to 350.
- Finely chop the carrots, celery, onion and garlic (I do it in the food processor)
- In a medium-large saute pan on medium-high heat add a few tablespoons of olive oil and sweat your veggies (season with salt)
- Once everything softens, add your ground beef and work it into small crumbles with a wooden spoon (season with salt and pepper)
- Once the meat is cooked (8-10 minutes) add your chicken broth and continue to cook for another 5 minutes
- Now add your cinnamon, cumin, salt pepper, oregano, thyme….mix together and cook for a few more minutes
- Stir in your tomatoes and pinch of sugar, turn your stove down to simmer and let it cook for 30-45 minutes. Taste to see if it needs more salt and pepper. (Set aside when done)
- Cook your ziti as directions state until it’s “under cooked” about 5-6 minutes You want it to have a bite to it. It will continue to cook in the oven. (Drain and set aside)
Now for the cheesy cream sauce…
- For the béchamel, heat the milk and cream together in a microwave safe measuring cup for about 1 1/2 minutes until it’s warm
- In a medium saucepan, melt the butter. Add the flour and cook over medium heat, whisking constantly for 2 minutes.
- Pour the warm milk and cream mixture into the butter and flour mixture, whisking constantly. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, over medium heat for 5 to 7 minutes, until smooth and thick.
- Turn off the heat, and carefully stir in your beaten eggs (temper them first so they wont scramble)
- Add the nutmeg, salt and pepper and stir in 3/4 cup of the Parmesan cheese
Now it’s time to assemble our pastichios…
- Add a big spoonful of meat sauce to your ziti and mix together
- Now evenly distribute the ziti into your lasagna pans
- Evenly distribute the meat sauce over the noodles
- Now pour béchamel over everything in a thick layer until everything is covered
- Sprinkle the remaining parmesan cheese on top
- Bake uncovered in the oven for about an hour until everything is bubbly and golden brown.
Making pastichio is truly a labor of love, but make it once and you’ll totally be hooked! On a scale from 1-10 on the family favorite chart this one marks a 25! It’s delicious, pretty cheap to make, and you’ll feel like you’re traveling the Mediterranean in your own kitchen!
I hope you love this recipe, check out all my other goodies while you’re here! I’m sure you’ll find a few more to try 🙂 I’d also LOVE it if you followed along on Facebook and Pinterest!
Talk to you soon friends, take care!
XO
Thank you so much for sharing this with us. It is one of our family’s fav also. And. I do like the out come of yours. However, i go have a few things to point out. This dish, if done the way yia-yas i was raised by, it is NOT a cheap dish. First of all, youshould use ground lamb. Witch by its self runs $7 to $ 10 a lb. You could do 75% lamb and 25% ground beef. But Thqts it.. and the cheese. Here in Tn. We have a store called earth fare. Im. Not sure of the name of the cheese but it’s close to $13 a lb.. i do hope this helps
Yes, we have used lamb before and that’s how it’s done traditionally, but my husbands (Cypriat) family has always used beef so that’s how we make it. Every family has their own versions and ways of doing it. That’s the beautiful thing about recipes, no two are exactly alike 🙂
How would you freeze and reheat? I would like some pointers! Thanks!
Hi Chelsea. You would freeze it the same way you wood a lasagna or baked ziti. Cook it up, assemble it in a lasagna dish, cover and freeze until you’re ready to use it. When you’re ready to cook it, take it out of the freezer and put it in a 350-375 degree oven for about an 1.5-2 hours and it should be completely heated through!
To reheat, would you pop it in the oven frozen OR thaw it first? I’m going to make this for two events using Smart Ground (a meat alternative). Thanks in advance for your reply.
I’d pop it in frozen.
after it is cooked and completely cooled – we cut it into single servings and freeze them separately – that way you pull out what you need and reheat – awesome lunch!
Thank you for posting this recipe. I’ve been getting so tired of eating the same ole ground beef dishes and this will be a nice change. Pinned it and hopefully will get to make it this weekend.
This needs either an additional can of tomatoes, or half the noodles. It turned out very dry. My family has been eating an old family recipe for lasagna for generations and when I made this they liked the flavor, but were disappointed bc it was like eating plain dry noodles with a layer of seasoned bee on top. WAY too many noodles.
So sorry it turned out so dry Melissa… It sounds like something went wrong though, because although it’s not saucy like a baked ziti or lasagna would be it’s definitely not supposed to taste like plain noodles with beef. The flavors melt together in the oven and the juice from the meat and béchamel should have created a bit of a sauce around the noodles. Feel free to add another can of tomatoes next time though! That’s the beauty of recipes- to adapt it to your liking and taste 🙂
I have mine I the oven, i don’t have a back up dish for today’s Christmas dinner, so I’m praying it turns out. My two older boys are so used to their yia-yias, but given we are in Texas, and she’s in Chicago I hope they understand that i tried. Oh…Lord help me! Merry Christmas to y’all and your loved ones. ?