{"id":1020,"date":"2020-01-30T13:51:15","date_gmt":"2020-01-30T19:51:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jessicatijerina.com\/?p=1020"},"modified":"2020-01-30T13:57:32","modified_gmt":"2020-01-30T19:57:32","slug":"greek-pastitsio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jessicatijerina.com\/index.php\/2020\/01\/30\/greek-pastitsio\/","title":{"rendered":"Greek Pastitsio"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pastitsio (Greek Baked Pasta)<\/h1>\n

As seen on Twin Cities Live Channel 5!\u00a0 1\/30\/2020<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ingredients<\/strong><\/p>\n

Meat Sauce<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00bc cup olive oil, divided<\/p>\n

1 \u00bd lbs. ground beef<\/p>\n

1 large onion, diced<\/p>\n

3 cloves garlic, chopped<\/p>\n

2 bay leaves<\/p>\n

1 teaspoon thyme<\/p>\n

1 tablespoon parsley<\/p>\n

\u00bd cup dry red wine (non-alcohol version: mix \u00bc cup beef broth and \u00bc cup red wine vinegar)<\/p>\n

28-ounce can plum tomatoes with juice<\/p>\n

2 Tbsp. tomato paste<\/p>\n

1 cup water, optional to adjust thickness of sauce<\/p>\n

\u00bd teaspoon ground cinnamon<\/p>\n

1\/8 teaspoon ground cloves<\/p>\n

1\/8 teaspoon allspice ground<\/p>\n

Kosher salt<\/p>\n

Freshly cracked black pepper, to taste<\/p>\n

Pasta<\/h4>\n

1 lb uncooked macaroni (or bucatini pasta)<\/p>\n

2 tablespoons Kosher salt<\/p>\n

1 tablespoon olive oil for brushing the pan<\/p>\n

2 eggs, lightly beaten<\/p>\n

Fresh thyme and parsley<\/p>\n

B\u00e9chamel<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00bd cup butter<\/p>\n

\u00bd cup + 2 tbsp. flour<\/p>\n

4 \u00bd cups whole milk<\/p>\n

1 teaspoon Kosher salt<\/p>\n

1 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper<\/p>\n

\u00bd teaspoon nutmeg (freshly grated preferred)<\/p>\n

\u00bd cup freshly grated Parmesan, divided<\/p>\n

\u00bd cup freshly grated Gruyere cheese<\/p>\n

3 egg yolks, lightly beaten<\/p>\n

Method<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Oil a 9×13 baking dish and set aside.<\/li>\n
  2. MEAT: <\/strong>In a large skillet, heat \u00bd the olive oil on medium high heat.<\/li>\n
  3. Add the beef and cook for 15 minutes or until meat is well browned.<\/li>\n
  4. Add the onion and sweat until soft, about 3 to 4 minutes.<\/li>\n
  5. Add the garlic and stir to blend.<\/li>\n
  6. Deglaze the pan with the red wine or beef broth mixture and add the herbs, spices, tomatoes and paste.<\/li>\n
  7. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, 40 to 45 minutes or until sauce is thickened. Adjust with a bit of water, if too thick. Check seasoning. Once done, remove from heat and set aside (reserve) \u00bd cup sauce for the pasta.<\/li>\n
  8. PASTA:<\/strong> Add the pasta to a pot full of salted water.<\/li>\n
  9. Boil 2 minutes less than the instructions on the box. They need to be al dente because they will cook further in the oven, so do not overcook.<\/li>\n
  10. Brush a baking pan with olive oil.<\/li>\n
  11. When the pasta is ready, drain and add the 2 eggs, lightly beaten, thyme and parsley.<\/li>\n
  12. Season to taste with salt and pepper and set aside until the meat sauce is done and then add the \u00bd cup reserved meat sauce to the pasta, mix and pour into the prepared baking dish. Set aside.<\/li>\n
  13. BECHAMEL: <\/strong>Meanwhile, melt butter in a large heavy-bottomed pot on medium heat.<\/li>\n
  14. Add the flour and whisk to combine. Cook for 1-2 minutes or until smooth. Remove pot from heat and add cold milk in very small batches whisking each time until smooth.<\/li>\n
  15. Return to heat and whisk constantly on medium heat until mixture boils and thickens, about 4 to 5 minutes.<\/li>\n
  16. Season the b\u00e9chamel with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Remove from heat and stir in grated cheese.<\/li>\n
  17. Temper the yolks by adding a bit of the hot b\u00e9chamel into bowl and whisking thoroughly.<\/li>\n
  18. Gradually add this mixture into b\u00e9chamel, stirring briskly to prevent curdling.<\/li>\n
  19. Ladle the remaining meat sauce over the pasta in the prepared baking dish, making an even layer on top of pasta.<\/li>\n
  20. Pour the b\u00e9chamel over the pasta and cover evenly.<\/li>\n
  21. Bake until golden brown and set, about 45- 50 minutes.<\/li>\n
  22. Let stand about 45 minutes before serving.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Enjoy!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Pastitsio (Greek Baked Pasta) As seen on Twin Cities Live Channel 5!\u00a0 1\/30\/2020 Ingredients Meat Sauce \u00bc cup olive oil, divided 1 \u00bd lbs. ground beef 1 large onion, diced 3 cloves garlic, chopped 2 bay leaves 1 teaspoon thyme<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[725,746,760,759,758,216,761,745],"class_list":{"1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-recipes","7":"tag-bechamel","8":"tag-channel-5","9":"tag-greek-baked-pasta","10":"tag-greek-macaroni","11":"tag-greek-pasta","12":"tag-jessica-tijerina","13":"tag-pastitsio","14":"tag-twin-cities-live"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jessicatijerina.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1020","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jessicatijerina.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jessicatijerina.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jessicatijerina.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jessicatijerina.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1020"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/jessicatijerina.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1020\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1028,"href":"https:\/\/jessicatijerina.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1020\/revisions\/1028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jessicatijerina.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jessicatijerina.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jessicatijerina.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}