Pastitsio (Greek Lasagna) is another experience of lasagna. It is classic pasta layers, rich ground beef ragu, thick cinnamon meat sauce, and creamy bechamel sauce. The basics are similar to a schotel with a different pasta. But, traditional pastitsio uses large tubular pasta like bucatini or penne instead of lasagna noodles. Bucatini is long, slender, and hollow noodles, something like a straw made of pasta. Because it same as lasagna, this dish uses stir-fried meat in tomato sauce and white bechamel sauce.
Meat Sauce 1. In a pan, heat oil over medium-high heat. Cook onion and garlic until translucent. 2. Turn the heat to very high heat, then cook ground beef until the water evaporated. 3. Add remaining meat sauce ingredients. Stir then turn the heat down and simmer the sauce for about 1 hour or until liquid is mostly gone. Set aside.
Béchamel Sauce 1. In another pan, melt butter over medium heat. 2. After melted, add the flour and stir until mix well and thickens. 3. While stirring, pour small batches of the milk so there is no lump on the saucepan. Once blended, add the remaining milk in increments, mixing well after each addition, until all the milk is used and sauce is free from lumps. 4. Once the sauce is free from lumps, add in and mix egg yolks, parmesan cheese, nutmeg powder, salt, and pepper. Set aside
Pasta 1. Boil water over medium-high heat. Cook bucatini pasta with salt according to its package. 2. Drain the pasta then add in and mix the pasta with parmesan cheese and egg whites.
Pastitsio 1. Preheat oven to 200°C. 2. To assemble, add a layer of bucatini pasta then topped it with meat sauce and topped it with béchamel sauce to a 7.5×9.5×2-inch glass rectangular dinnerware. 3. Sprinkle the pastitsio with parmesan cheese. Bake for 45 minutes or until the béchamel sauce and parmesan cheese brownish. 4. Before serving, cool down the pastitsio for a while in a room temperature so it will not mess the pasta when you cut the pastitsio.