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.

Lamb and Eggplant Casserole

Before the warmer weather returns again, I thought I would share this recipe with you. It was one of the recipes I cooked up last week (for the freezer) and one that I made a couple of times over the winter.

As with most casseroles, it is simple and delicious.

Lamb and Eggplant Casserole

serves 4

• 1 kilogram lamb - leg or shoulder (cut into 5cm pieces)
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 onions (cut into wedges)
• 1/2 cup tomato paste
• 1 eggplant (cut into 5cm pieces)
• 1 large red capsicum (cut into 5cm pieces)
• 2 1/2 cups beef stock
• salt and pepper
• 1 sprig parsley

to serve

• 1 tablespoon parsley (finely chopped)

Preheat oven to 160 degrees. Heat the oil in a heavy based casserole dish and brown the lamb in two batches. Set the lamb aside and add the onions to the pan. Cook for two minutes and then add the tomato paste. Cook for one minute and return the lamb to the pan. Add the eggplant, capsicum and stock. Season to taste. Stir well to combine and bring to the boil. Cover and put into the oven for 1 1/2 hours. After this time, remove the lid and return to the oven for another 30 minutes or until the sauce is reduced to the desired consistency. Serve, sprinkled with parsley.

I usually like to serve this with mashed potatoes and green beans, but rice or polenta would probably also be good.

This was adapted from a recipe in "Australian Table" magazine

A greek inspired barbecue

The first couple of days of Spring where all sunshine and beautiful blue skies. My husband and I were looking forward to some fresh flavours and planned a simple barbecue for dinner. Cooking some of our old favourites, I set to work. However by mid afternoon the spring weather had disappeared, it was raining and grey. I was wearing a tracksuit and had turned on the heater.

It didn't matter, we barbecued our chops in the rain and poured a glass of wine.

Even though we didn't get to eat outdoors as planned, we were excited about the warm months to come. We are looking forward to easy, impromptu barbecues with mediterranean flavours that we love so much. Here the recipes that we cooked on the weekend... like I said, some old favourites.



Lemon and Garlic Lamb Marinade

serve 6

• 1 kilogram lamb chops
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1 lemon (juiced)
• 2 cloves garlic (crushed)
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 2 dried or 4 fresh bay leaves (broken)
• salt and pepper

to serve

• lemon wedges

Mix all of the ingredients together and marinate the lamb overnight. Barbecue and serve.



Tzatziki

• 25o grams thick Greek yoghurt
• 1 continental cucumber or 2 Lebanese cucumber's (peeled, de-seeded, grated)
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 garlic cloves (peeled and roughly chopped)
• pinch of salt
• 1 tablespoon dill (finely chopped)

Squeeze the grated cucumber of any excess water and spread it out on a clean tea towel to remove as much moisture as possible. Leave for 15 minutes. In a mortar and pestle crush the garlic with a pinch of salt. Mix all of the ingredients together.

If you can, it is best to make the tzatziki the day before, to let the flavours develop.



Briami
Greek Baked Vegetables

serves 4-6

• 4 courgettes (cut into chunks)
• 450 grams potatoes (cut into large chunks)
• 1 red pepper (cut into chunks)
• 1 red onion (roughly chopped)
• 3 cloves garlic (sliced)
• 3 tablespoons flat-leaf parsley (chopped)
• 1 x 400 gram tin tomatoes (chopped)
• 150 ml olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried greek oregano

to serve

• 2 tablespoons flat-leaf parsley (chopped)

Preheat oven to 190 degrees. Place all the ingredients except the oregano into a large baking dish. Mix well. Sprinkle with the oregano. Bake for 1 hour. Sprinkle with chopped parsley. Serve immediately or at room temperature.



Greek Country Salad

serves 4-6

• 4 tomatoes (cut into 6-8 wedges)
• 1 large continental cucumber (cubed)
• 1 red onion (sliced)
• 2 red pepper (roughly chopped)
• 1 cup kalamata olives
• 2 cups cos lettuce (roughly torn)
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

Mix all of the ingredients in a large bowl and serve immediately.