How to cook Greek Pastitsio

Pastitsio is Greece‘s delightful response to Italian Lasagna, featuring pasta layers enveloped in a sumptuous red wine meat sauce infused with cinnamon, all crowned by a luscious blanket of cheese sauce. Let the fun begin!

How to cook Greek Pastitsio

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Pastitsio is so much more than just another pasta bake. A step up from Baked Spaghetti, and, if I may boldly state it, even the beloved Baked Ziti of America, Greece offers its own rendition of the timeless Italian classic, Lasagna.

We are captivated by its clean, well-defined layers, accentuated by the distinctive Greek bucatini-style pasta tubes.

We revel in the opulent marriage of red wine, tomato, and meat sauce, enhanced with the tantalizing hints of cinnamon and cloves, bestowing upon it a uniquely Greek character, far from being “just another meat sauce.”

Moreover, we savor the indulgent, generously layered Béchamel sauce that crowns this masterpiece. The Greeks have left no detail unattended; it’s all about lavishness and abundance!

Ingredients

There are 3 parts to Pastitsio:

Feta-tossed pasta;
Greek meat sauce – Like Bolognese sauce, but thicker and scented with cinnamon and cloves which you also see in Greek Moussaka; and
Greek Béchamel Sauce – Thickly laid and thicker set than you traditionally see in things like Italian Lasagna.

MEAT SAUCE:

2 tbsp olive oil
3 garlic cloves, finely minced
2 red onions, finely chopped (sub-yellow or brown onions)
1 kg / 2 lb beef mince (ground beef)
3/4 cup red wine (185 ml), dry
800g / 28 oz canned crushed tomato
2 beef bouillon cubes, crumbled (stock cubes)
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp white sugar
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
1 cinnamon stick (or extra 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder)
1/4 tsp ground cloves
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper

GREEK BECHAMEL:

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100g / 7 tbsp butter, unsalted
110 g flour, plain/all-purpose
1 liter / 4 cups milk, whole/ full fat best but low fat ok
1/8 tsp nutmeg, preferably freshly grated
1/2 tsp salt
100g / 3 oz Kefalotyri Greek cheese (sub Parmesan or Romano), finely shredded
2 egg yolks (egg whites are used in the pasta)

PASTA:

400g / 14 oz Pastitsio No. 2 pasta / Greek bucatini (sub small ziti, penne or normal bucatini)
120g / 4 oz feta, crumbled
2 egg whites (yolks used in Béchamel)

TOPPING:

75g / 3 oz Kefalotyri Greek cheese (sub parmesan or Romano), finely grated

Instructions

MEAT SAUCE:

Heat in a large pot over high heat. Add garlic and onion, and cook for 2 – 3 minutes until onion is softened. Add beef and cook, breaking it up as you go, until it changes from red to brown.
Add wine and cook until the wine has mostly evaporated – about 3 minutes.
Add remaining Meat Sauce ingredients. Stir well, bring to a simmer, then reduce heat to medium / medium-low so it’s simmering gently. Cook for 45 min to 1 hour until the liquid is mostly gone, stirring every now and then. It should be a thick mixture with little liquid, not saucy like Spaghetti Bolognese (Note 4).
Remove from stove and cool. Preferably to room temperature, otherwise for at least 30 minutes before assembling (lid off).

GREEK BÉCHAMEL

Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add flour and stir for 1 minute.
While stirring, slowly pour half the milk in. It should turn into a wet paste. Then again, while stirring, pour in the remaining milk – the paste should easily dissolve so it’s lump-free. If not, just whisk vigorously.
Cook, stirring so the base doesn’t catch, for 5 minutes or until thick enough so it coats the back of a wooden spoon thickly and you can draw a path across it with your finger.
Remove from stove. Stir in nutmeg, cheese and salt.
Leave to cool for 5 minutes. Then whisk in egg yolks quickly. Place the lid on and set aside. If the sauce cools and gets too thick to pour, just reheat on a low stove until pourable.

PASTA

When you’re ready to assemble, cook the pasta per packet instructions, minus 1 minute.
Drain, then return to the pot. Leave to cool for 3 minutes, then stir through egg whites. Gently stir through crumbled feta.

ASSEMBLE AND BAKE:

Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F (all oven types).
Place pasta in a baking dish (33 x 22 x 7 cm / 9 x 13 x 2.75″), arranging them so they are all going in the same direction as best you can (for visual effect when sliced). Make the surface as level as you can.
Top with Meat Sauce, then smooth the surface.
Pour over Béchamel Sauce, then sprinkle over the cheese.
Bake for 30 min or until the crust turns golden.
Cool for at least 10 minutes so you can cut neat slices with the layers neatly visible. Serve!

Notes:

1. Red wine – any dry red wine is fine here. If you can’t consume alcohol, substitute with liquid beef or chicken stock/broth.

2. Kefalotyri Greek cheese – a Greek sheep or goat’s milk cheese, similar to Parmesan but not as salty. Substitute with Parmesan or Romano cheese.

3. Pasta for Pastitsio – The traditional pasta is a thick tubular pasta called “Pastitsio No 2 pasta”, sometimes also referred to as Greek bucatini. It is thicker than Italian bucatini (tubular pasta). See in post for close-up photos. Find it at European/Greek delis. Substitute with small penne or ziti, or normal Italian bucatini for a similar look. Otherwise, any pasta is fine!

4. Thickness of meat sauce – you want it very thick with barely any sauce in order to achieve the neat layers that you see pictured in the post. If it’s too loose, it will run down into the pasta and discolor it, as well as make the pasta slippery so it doesn’t hold together when you slice it. But even if your slices don’t cut as neatly as pictured, it doesn’t affect flavor!

5. Greek Béchamel – thicker than the cheese sauce used to top Italian lasagna both in consistency and thickness of the layer. The egg yolks help it set more when baked so it doesn’t ooze when you cut a slice.

6. Tossing pasta with egg whites – the purpose of the egg whites is to help the pasta set better so you can cut neat slices with distinct layers. Do this just before assembling so the egg whites don’t dry out before baking.

7. Storage and make ahead – cooked Pastitsio keeps perfectly in the fridge for 4 to 5 days, or freezer for 3 months (thaw then reheat covered in oven).

8. Nutrition per serving, assuming 8 (big!) servings.