Pasticcio Recipe

How to make it

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• If you want a thicker topping, you can increase flour and butter to 8 tablespoons each and add 4 cups of milk for the white sauce. Rest of instructions would be the same.
• Use a large 8 quart pot of boiling salted water for the pasta.
• Place macaroni in boiling salted water, stir and cook until partially done or al dente following package directions.
• Take a piece out of the water and test it. Do not overcook because it will finish cooking in baking pan when the pasticcio is baked. Remove pot from heat. Drain macaroni well in a colander in sink and return to pot. Heat should be off at this point. Sprinkle in two grated cheeses to taste, about 3/4 of a cup of each cheese. Grate nutmeg to taste into pot and stir all with wooden spoon. Crack eggs into pot quickly one at a time and stir in after each addition. Macaroni will be warm and eggs will seem to cook somewhat but don't worry about it.
• Assembly of Pasticcio:
• Heat meat sauce if made ahead. Butter baking pan with some of the butter and lay in a couple of large spoonfuls of the meat sauce. Then take half of the macaroni mixture and layer on top of the meat sauce smoothing it out and adding sprinklings of both types of grated cheese. Add more meat sauce and cheeses. Layer rest of macaroni on top of sauce and add more of the cheeses. Finally, layer rest of meat sauce and sprinkle more of the cheeses on top of sauce. Smooth with spoon.
• At this point, pan can be covered with plastic wrap and refrigerated for baking the next day.Macaroni mixture should be removed from the refrigerator about an hour prior to making the white sauce so it can come to room temperature.
• White Sauce Preparation and Baking:
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Melt butter in 3 quart heavy stainless steel saucepan. Add flour and mix together with butter using a wire whisk in order to make a rue. Cook for a few minutes over medium high heat to make sure flour looses it's raw taste. Slowly add milk and keep stirring so no lumps will form. Keep stirring and add white pepper to taste and grated nutmeg to taste. Stir until mixture comes to a full rolling boil. Must stay on top of this, stirring so sauce will not burn on the bottom. Remove from heat.
• In the bowl with the slightly beaten eggs, begin slowly adding ladlefuls of the white sauce in order to temper the eggs.(May need someone to hold bowl while you are doing this.) Keep adding and stirring until eggs have melded with the white sauce and will not curdle. Then return all of this mixture into the rest of the white sauce that is in the saucepan. Place on heat very briefly and stir until thick and smooth. Remove from heat.
• When sauce is ready, using a large spoon, spread it on top of the macaroni in baking pan and smooth as much as possible. Cover all surface of meat sauce with the white or bechamel sauce. Sprinkle more of the two cheeses on top of the white sauce and dot small slivers of the unsalted butter all over the surface of it.
• Place in preheated oven and bake for about an hour and 15 minutes depending on the oven. Keep checking. Pasticcio is done when it is puffed and golden. Cool for 20 or 25 minutes, slice in squares, remove with a spatula and serve. Or cover with aluminum foil and cut a little later. Can wait for an hour or so prior to serving. Will stay warm for a while.

Greek meat sauce   Close

Assembly   Close

Bechamel   Close