Ina Garten’s Fan-Favorite Pastitsio | Barefoot Contessa | Food Network

Ina’s Pastitsio will rock your world! This Greek dish is baked with layers of tomato, pasta, ground lamb and bechamel.
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Ina Garten throws open the doors of her Hamptons home for delicious food, dazzling entertaining ideas and good fun on Barefoot Contessa.

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Pastitsio
RECIPE COURTESY OF INA GARTEN
Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients

For the Tomato Meat Sauce:
3 tablespoons good olive oil
1 1/2 cups chopped yellow onion (1 large)
1 pound lean ground beef
1 pound lean ground lamb
1/2 cup dry red wine
1 tablespoon minced garlic (3 large cloves)
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
Pinch of cayenne pepper
1 can (28 ounces) crushed tomatoes in puree
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the Bechamel:
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 cups freshly grated Parmesan or Kasseri cheese
2 extra-large eggs, beaten
2/3 cup Greek-style yogurt, such as Fage Total
3/4 pound small shells

Directions

For the sauce, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat in a large pot. Add the onion and saute for 5 minutes. Add the beef and lamb, and saute over medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes, until it’s no longer pink, crumbling it with the back of wooden spoon. Drain off any excess liquid, add the wine, and cook for 2 more minutes. Add the garlic, cinnamon, oregano, thyme, and cayenne, and continue cooking over medium heat for 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 40 to 45 minutes. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

For the bechamel, heat the milk and cream together in a small saucepan over medium-low heat until simmering. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter. Add the flour and cook over medium heat, whisking constantly for 2 minutes. Pour the warm milk and cream mixture into the butter and flour mixture, whisking constantly. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, over medium heat for 5 to 7 minutes, until smooth and thick. Add the nutmeg, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon of pepper. Stir in 3/4 cup of Parmesan cheese, 1/2 cup of the tomato and meat sauce, and allow to cool for 10 minutes. Stir in the eggs and yogurt and set aside.

Meanwhile, cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling water until al dente. Don’t over-cook because the pasta will later be baked. Drain and set aside.
Add the pasta to the meat and tomato sauce, and pour the mixture into a baking dish. Spread the bechamel evenly to cover the pasta and sprinkle with the remaining 3/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Bake for 1 hour, until golden brown and bubbly. Set aside for 10 minutes and serve hot.

Reprinted from Make It Ahead, Copyright 2014 by Ina Garten, Clarkson Potter/Publisher. All rights reserved.

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Ina Garten’s Fan-Favorite Pastitsio | Barefoot Contessa | Food Network

I bet Jeffrey thinks I’m going to make a Twist on chicken well you know what I’m going to rock his world I’m going to make pastitio which is like a Greek lasagna so the first thing I’ve done is sauteed 1 and 1/2 cups of onions and about 3 tablespoons of olive oil what I’m going to add is one pound of ground beef and one pound of ground lamb it’s the lamb that makes it so Greek no chicken anywhere just put it right into the onions and this going to cook for about 8 to 10 minutes until the meat is really browned and completely cooked through and the onions will be nice and caramelized what I was looking for is a dish that’s like lasagna where you make the whole thing in one dish it goes into the oven and you just serve it the entire meal is one dish and I started doing some research and I realized the Greeks have something called pastizio which is really lasagna but it’s baked with tomatoes and spices like cinnamon and oregano in the bottom ground meat and pasta and then has this big thick layer of bash melon and cheese on the top it’s absolutely delicious so that’s basically what this is It’s like a Greek lasagna I use two kinds of meat beef and lamb and I just think that gives a great flavor and what I’m doing here is just Browning the meat for about 8 to 10 minutes along with the onions just until it’s cooked and then I’m going to add all kinds of delicious spices now I’m going to add half a cup of a dry red wine I always add karone because it’s what I like I always pick something that I can drink and cook with and the good news is when Jeffrey goes to the store to get me dry red wine he knows I like Cerone just cook that down a little bit okay that’s the ground meat and the red wine now I’m going to add lots of delicious flavors first thing is garlic big rough chop you can add as much as you like then I’m going to add cinnamon which is a really classic Greek combination of lamb and cinnamon it just gives it a nice peccant flavor usually cinnamon here is used for sweet things but I love it in Savory things so I’m going to put a whole tablespoon in okay next is dried oregano that’s classic Greek too I actually like dried oregano rather than fresh because oregano is so strong sort of overpowers it pinch of cayenne pepper as big a pinch as you like it’s hot and about a teaspoon of fresh thyme leaves I love the flavor of thyme so I use fresh thyme leaves and just sort of approximate it so this is ground meat onions garlic and lots of seasonings it’s going to make a delicious base for the pastitio give it a big stir this is going to cook for about 5 minutes in the meantime I’m going to get some tomatoes to put in okay so going to use one whole Canan of crushed tomatoes in puree it’s really thick and it’s going to make it fabulous sauce this is a good one to use for crushed tomatoes and the thick puree actually makes a much thicker sauce so you always want to find tomatoes in puree pour that whole thing in get all of it 2 teaspoons of salt 1 teaspoon of pepper that’s just going to simmer away for about 40 to 45 minutes until it’s thick and spicy and delicious then I’m going to add some pasta wonder what kind of trouble jeffre is getting into oh this ground meat looks just incredible it’s thick and it’s rich and it just looks delicious okay next I need some pasta so I’ve got a big pot of boiling water lots of salt so the pasta has good flavor and what I’m using is something that’s called and I’m sure I’m pronouncing this wrong Kung CTI which is small shells you can use any kind of small shells but these are really good ones three4 of a pound so it’s most of the Box give it a big stir that’s going to cook for about 8 minutes but check the box that you’re using and make sure you’ve got the right amount of time you want to just undercook it because I’m going to put it into the sauce and then I’m going to bake it and so it’s going to cook a little longer but it’s going to really absorb all the flavors of the meat and the spices small shells are wonderful because they sort of distribute themselves through the sauce it’s going to be so good I’m not usually crazy about surprises well unless I’m in on the surprise but Jeffrey and I decided we were going to surprise each other for dinner on Friday night I’m not telling him what we’re having and I don’t even know what he’s up to so I’m making pastizio I’ve already got the meat sauce done and now I’m going to make the cheese sauce so the first thing I need to do is heat up some milk and cream I’ve got 1 and 1/2 cups of milk and one cup of cream what I’m doing is I’m making a bashal which is a white sauce and while that heats up I’m going to make the root I’ve got 4 tbspoon of butter that I’ve melted in a pan it’s about a half a stick I’m going to add 1/4 of a cup of flour it’s just allpurpose flour and just dump it all in at once point of this is actually to just cook the flour a little bit so you don’t have that raw flour taste in it just cook it for about a minute so the butter and flour are perfectly cooked they’re not Brown just for about a minute I’m going to switch to a whisk just to make sure I get a nice smooth cream sauce I’m going to pour the milk and cream in whisking it no lumps here and then later I’m going to add lots of cheese parmesan and yogurt so pastizio is like a Greek lasagna and it’s got meat and shells and delicious tomato sauce on the bottom and a nice cheese sauce bash on the top and it’s all baked together so it’s an entire meal in one dish okay so this is nice and thick and now I’m going to add some flavors 1/4 of a teaspoon of nutmeg teaspoon of salt teaspoon of pepper next parmesan cheese I’m going to put about 3/4 of a cup of grated Parmesan into the sauce and then save 3/4 of a cup for the topping so it gets nice and brown and crusty okay give it a big stir and then I do one other thing I put half a cup of the meat sauce with the tomatoes and the spices right into the cheese topping I just think it flavors it and it makes it pink and I think it looks fantastic this is going to cool for about 10 minutes okay cheese sauce is cooled now I’m going to put the pasta right into the tomato sauce so these are the shells and just mix it all together oh this looks fantastic big baking dish any size just make sure it’s big enough okay and just pour it all right in this is the bottom layer and then the top layer is all that beautiful bamal with cheese and yogurt smells delicious really can smell the cinnamon okay just smooth the top and now the sauce if it was just a sauce would sort of seep through it so I’m going to add two things that are going to make sure it’s a layer on top the first one is eggs so I’m sort of making the bashal sauce into a custard two eggs and this is why you want to cool the sauce a little bit so it doesn’t cook the eggs so it just thickens it okay just throw the eggs right into the hot bamal and since it’s besito I say that three times I’m going to add Greek yogurt 2/3 of a cup that actually makes it a little thicker and it adds that nice Tang that yogurt has so I’m just going to eyeball 2/3 of a cup and just Stir It All In And now when it bakes it’s going to bake right on top of the layer of the meat and tomatoes and shells this looks fantastic okay so I’m just going to pour this on top just smooth it right over the top of it and just to make sure there’s enough cheese and to Brown the top going to add 3/4 of a cup of Parmesan cheese right to the top just sprinkle it evenly over the top of it I mean does this look delicious I don’t think Jeffrey will be disappointed okay into the oven 350° for an hour and it’s going to be hot and bubbly and he’s going to be very happy guy and that’s bestio for