Pastitsio – lamb and pasta Greek style
Comfort food extraordinaire and easy to make
Ingredients
- Olive oil or cooking spray
- 2 pounds ground Soay meat (1 lb for an even leaner meal)
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 1 can (6 or 8 oz) tomato paste (use reduced sodium version to cut back on salt)
- 15 oz can of diced tomatoes, mostly drained with juice discarded
- 1/2 cup red wine
- salt and pepper to taste
- 3/4 pound dry elbow macaroni or similar small tubular pasta, cooked and drained
- 1 cup grated parmesan cheese (1/3 cup for a lower-fat version)
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 2 and 1/3 cups low-fat or skim milk
- 1 Tblsp margarine or butter
- 2 eggs
- 4 egg whites (or 1/2 cup no-cholesterol real egg product)
Directions
- Oil large skillet or spray with cooking spray. Cook lamb at medium heat until browned. Add onion and cook until tender, 5-8 minutes. Drain fat and any extra liquid.
- Stir in tomato paste, drained diced tomatoes, and wine; cook 2-3 minutes longer. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Spoon 1/2 of the cooked macaroni into a 13x9 inch baking pan (lightly grease pan first with a little butter or more cooking spray).
- Spoon meat mixture over macaroni.
- Combine cheese and spices; sprinkle over meat
- Spoon remaining macaroni over the top
- Heat milk and margarine/butter in saucepan, stirring until warm
- Beat eggs in separate small bowl
- Whisk half the milk mixture into the eggs, then whisk egg mixture into the saucepan with the remaining milk
- Pour milk/egg mixture over the macaroni
- Bake covered at 350F for 20 minutes, then uncovered for 30-40 more minutes or until bubbly
There are endless variations of pastitsio(Greek) and pasticcio (Italian). The hallmark ingredients are layers of noodles of some sort, ground lamb spiced with cinnamon, a touch of nutmeg, and tomato sauce, all surrounded by a lightly cheesy custard. The word “pastitsio” apparently is akin to hodgepodge, pot-pourri, pastiche, or fragments.
The lighter variant of this recipe was kindly provided to me by my friend Sandy Shaffer at our annual Christmas Trail Band concert at the Ginger Rogers Theatre in nearby Medford. The moral of the story? You never know when or where a great recipe is going to come your way.
Bon appétit!