Pastichio

BLUE ROSE's Note:

When a neighbor of mine heard about the world tour I did they thought they would share with me some of their recipes. Nothing like good greek food! I hope I got the cooking time right..

• Total Time: 1 hrs 45 mins
• Prep Time: 0 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs 45 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 12

• 1 lb elbow macaroni
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 lbs lean ground meat
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 cup parmesan cheese, grated
• salt and pepper
• 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 8 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup water

Cream Sauce

• 1 quart milk
• 1/4 lb butter
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 pinch cinnamon

Directions:

1. Pre heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cool macaroni, but not until completely done as it will be cooked in oven also drain well.
3. Brown onion in butter until golden. Add ground meat and brown until redness is gone.
4. Add seasonings, tomato sauce and water and continue cooking slowly until water is absorbed.
5. Add beaten eggs, meat sauce and cheese to drained macaroni and mix thoroughly.
6. Spread in greased, 10 x 15 inch deep baking pan.
7. In a sauce pan, add all cream sauce ingredients and cook slowly.
8. Mixing continuously until starts bubbling.
9. Remove and spread on top of macaroni in pan.
10. Sprinkle cinnamon over and bake for about 1 hour or until golden.
11. You my sprinkle more parmesan cheese over also.

Reviews

[Carol in Cabo]

It wasn't the dish I remembered from Greek Town in Chicago, but it was quite tasty. Thanks for posting!

[Mikekey]

This is not something I would make often, just because of the amount of eggs, but as a special treat, it is good. I cut the recipe in half, for a 9 x 9 pan, but would make the whole recipe next time and cook 2 9 x 9 pans and freeze one, since it is a lot of work, so might as well make some for later. I agree with the previous reviews that it needs more spices than salt and pepper. Oregano, maybe, and I would add some feta instead of parmesan, for more flavor. For the meat, I used ground lamb. Made for Fall 2012 PAC game.

[CraftScout]

This was definitely a hearty meal, and it tasted a whole lot better than I thought it would as I was cooking it. Don't let the rating I give put you off, it tastes good! :) It could use a little more seasoning for our family, but it tastes good. BUT . . . I don't have an 11x15 pan, and with this list of ingredients, I knew that it would over flow an single pan I have, so I used two 9x13s (thank you for listing the size so I didn't have a huge mess to clean up which would have ended up in a pizza delivery! *grins*). AND it uses 3 different pans on the stove . . . that's a lot of dishes! And it took over an hour just to get it in the oven. I baked both pans, and froze the extra, we'll see how it ends up. I will probably love it the night all I have to do is reheat! :) Thank you for broadening my cooking horizons and posting this, made for ZWT4.