Dinner · 75 min · greek

Pastitsio

Ziti or bucatini does the heavy lifting here, with ground beef rounding it out. A Greek dinner that takes 75 minutes, start to finish.

✓ USDA-verified nutrition data

Ingredients

• 1 lb Ziti or bucatini
• 1.5 lb Ground beef
• 28 oz Canned crushed tomatoes
• 1 large Yellow onion
• 1 tsp Ground cinnamon
• 6 tbsp Unsalted butter
• 6 tbsp All-purpose flour
• 3 cups Whole milk
• 3 Eggs
• 1.5 cups Grated kefalotyri
• 1/2 cup Red wine
• 1/4 tsp Nutmeg
• 2 tbsp Olive oil

Steps

1. Cook the pasta 2 minutes shy of the package time — it finishes in the oven and mushy pasta is pastitsio’s worst sin. Toss with half the cheese while hot so it melts into a sticky base.
2. Brown the beef hard with the onion until the meat is deeply crusted, then add the wine and let it reduce to nearly nothing. Stir in tomatoes and cinnamon; simmer 20 minutes into a thick, almost dry ragu — a wet filling floods the layers.
3. Build the béchamel like the moussaka’s: butter-flour roux, warm milk whisked in, simmered thick, then eggs and nutmeg beaten in off the heat.
4. Layer the pasta, then the meat, pressing each down firmly, then pour the béchamel over and shower with the remaining cheese.
5. Bake at 375°F for 40 minutes until the top is golden-brown with caramelized edges. Rest 20 minutes — this is non-negotiable — then cut proud squares that hold their layers.

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