peace in my pans: Greek Lasagna (Pastitsio)

I really wanted to name this post, "Healthy Greek Lasagna" but I was afraid that the combination of "healthy" and "lasagna" might scare away everyone. It's only relatively healthy to traditional pastitsio, I just didn't add cheese (but you can, if you like) and used skim milk to make my béchamel instead of whole milk or cream. I used a packaged kind that I found at a Greek grocery store a while back but you can make your own. It's fairly simple, 2 tablespoons of flour, 2 tablespoons of ap flour, and about one and a 1/4 cup of milk. Melt the butter, whisk in the flour, and whisk together on low heat until the flour is completely dissolved then pour in the milk. Whisk until the sauce comes to a boil and is thickened. Add salt and pepper to taste.

The first time I had this dish was also the first time I made it. Peter kept mentioning how much he loved this dish as a kid but did not know where we could get it in Boston. I talked to his relatives, did some minor research, and got all the ingredients at a local Greek grocery store (this was a bit drastic and not necessary) to make the dish. The only veggies/fruits that go into this dish is really just onions and tomatoes so here, I added zucchinis and apples. I also chopped up some parsley to give the dish a nice green herb flavor (sorry! this is my best description of what parsley tastes like).

The dish is best served the day after it's been sitting in the fridge overnight. Usually, I cut up the pastitsio into squares, individually wrap the pieces, and throw them in the freezer. For some reason, it always tastes better after a few days. It's almost like the flavors get to really soak into the pasta or something...

Ok, go heat your oven to 350 degrees. Set a huge pot of water on the stove for cooking pasta and add two tablespoons of olive oil to a sauté pan for cooking the filling.

I used a Greek brand of pasta that is specifically used for making pastitsio. It's kinda' like a bucatini pasta - a long tubular and hollow pasta. Al dente or a bit more firm is fine since the pasta will have additional cook time in the oven.

(I'm so not loving the streaks on my stove)

Make the béchamel sauce. Once it's done, just leave it on really low heat and whisk occasionally as you prep the other ingredients since leaving it off the heat will cause it to create a film. We don't want that. Here's adding the flour to the milk.

It should look like this once you're done. It should be pretty thick... almost like saucy mashed potatoes.

Take out your cutting board and prepare to dice and slice your veggies!

First, mince some shallots.

Slice some onions. You can dice them but I'm preferred them sliced.

Cut them in half this way...

should look like this...

then slice them up nice and thin.

Throw the shallots and onions into your sauté pan since you want them to brown before you add the ground beef. You can add sugar to help your onions and shallots brown quicker.

Now dice up some plum tomatoes and baby zucchinis.

Diced the apples (just make sure they're sweet to contrast the tartness of the tomatoes) and set them aside for later.

This is optional. I puréed 1.5 plum tomatoes with a 1/4 cup of water and some whole allspice to add to my filling mixture in a bit.

if your shallots and onions are browned, kinda' like this...

then add about 1 lb of ground beef. I used extra lean but you can use whatever you have on hand or prefer. Also, add in about 10-15 whole allspice. Mix well and cook on low-medium heat, like a 6.

Throw in your diced tomatoes and baby zucchinis. Here, I added about a 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon and a pinch of nutmeg. Add more or less of the cinnamon to your liking, but I don't recommend adding more than a pinch of nutmeg though.

I poured in my puréed tomatoes and all spice to the mixture. If you skip this step, just add about a 1/4 cup of water to the mixture.

Add two tablespoons of tomato paste. I used a Greek brand but I'm sure it's just like any other tomato paste so use whatever you have on hand.

Here comes the twist! I chopped up some sun dried tomatoes and added to that my filling. How awesome is that?! I love sun dried tomatoes. Who doesn't?!