Pastitsio

Weekday dinners in our house have been kept fairly simple over the last couple of weeks. 

With the weather already very warm (summers here!), and a garden overflowing with fresh salad greens, there has been limited cooking. A lot of grilled chicken, barbecued meat or quiches all served with a giant 'help yourself salad' salad. 

Last night I made another old favourite, pastitso (pah-STEET-see-oh), a good alternative to lasagne or moussaka. Served again with a big salad, picked fresh from the garden while the sun set. 

And great news, I don't have to cook at all tonight - there are heaps of leftovers!







Pastitsio  

serves 8  

• 500 grams penne  
• 4 tablespoons olive oil  
• 1 onion (diced)
• 2 cloves garlic (crushed)  
• 750 grams lamb or beef mince  
• 1 x 445 gram tinned tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1/2 cup white wine  
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano  
• 1 bay leaf
• salt and pepper
 
bechamel sauce

• 2 tablespoons butter  
• 1/2 cup flour
• 3 cups milk
• pinch of nutmeg  
• 1 egg (lightly beaten)

• 1 tablespoon breadcrumbs
• 3/4 cup parmesan cheese (grated)

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Grease a large (24x38cm) baking dish. Cook the penne in boiling water until just cooked. While this is cooking, make the meat sauce. 

In a large pot gently sauté the onion and garlic. Add the meat and cook on a high heat until the meat has browned. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, white wine, cinnamon, oregano, bay leaf and season with salt and pepper to taste. Bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 2o minutes. 

To make the bechamel sauce: In a saucepan, melt the butter and stir in the flour. Gradually add the milk, and stir slowly until thickened. Add the nutmeg and season with salt and pepper. When the sauce has cooled slightly, stir through the beaten egg. 

To assemble the pastitsio, sprinkle the bottom of the baking dish with the breadcrumbs. Spread over half of the penne and cover with the meat sauce. Then spread over the remaining penne and cover with the bechamel sauce. Sprinkle with parmesan and bake for 45- 50 minutes. Leave to sit for 10 minutes before cutting.

Beef Stifatho

A couple of nights ago I cooked a favourite casserole of ours, Beef Stifatho (stee-FAH-thoh)

I have been cooking this recipe since I was 25 years old (which has been a while) I pulled the original handwritten recipe from an old cooking folder on the weekend. Torn and splattered. I thought back to the day when I had copied it from my Greek friends recipe book.

We were sitting in his cafe by the beach, drinking greek coffee and me (always!) with a piece of galaktoboureko. As I scribbled down some of my favourite recipes, he told me stories of the food his mother had cooked for him as a child on Crete. He talked constantly with nostalgia and excitement, stressing important 'greek cooking' tips, that I must not forget.

"This must be done this way, never that way, and don't ever do this, that would be wrong"

On this day we had a great debate about moussaka - who was I to be doing such a thing - an Anglo Saxon! but that's a story for another day.

I love to serve this with only crusty bread to soak up the juices, followed by a large salad. However my photos show macaroni on the side because someone (me) forgot to buy the bread. I didn't really like it with the plain macaroni, a pilaf would have been better.



Beef Stifatho

serves 6

• 1 kilogram chuck steak
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion (finely diced)
• 2 garlic cloves (crushed)
• 1 cup tomato passata
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 4 whole cloves
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• salt and pepper
• 750 gram small pickling onions (halved if they are large)
• 2 tablespoons currants

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees. Heat the oil in a heavy based casserole dish and brown the meat. Add the onion and garlic and saute until soft. Add the passata, wine, vinegar, bay leaf, spices, and sugar. Season to taste. Bring to the boil and either reduce the heat to simmer and cook on the stove top or transfer the dish to the oven. Cook for 1 hour. Add the onions and currants and stir well. Continue to cook for 1 1/2 hours or until the meat and onions are soft and the sauce is thick. Serve hot.

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