Spice Market Pastitsio
Spice Market Pastitsio
Trying a new recipe from the Better Homes & Gardens Biggest Book of Casseroles. There’s another Pastitsio recipe in the book as well, but I didn’t notice it until I’d bought everything for this one. The other recipe appears to be made with fresh ingredients as opposed to the pre-made spaghetti sauce etc. called for in this recipe. Which means it’s probably better and has less salt. I’ll try that one some day.
The following ingredients are what I used. Recipe does not match exactly what’s in the cookbook.
- 8 ounces (2 cups) dried elbow macaroni
- 8 ounces ground beef
- 14 ounces spaghetti sauce with onion and garlic
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon fennel seeds, crushed
- 1 cup milk (lactose free)
- 1 envelope white sauce mix
- 2 slightly beaten eggs
- ¼ cup crumbled feta cheese
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ cup shredded Parmesan cheese
- Preheat oven to 350°
- Cook macaroni
- Brown hamburger (I did not drain)
- Stir spaghetti sauce, cinnamon, and fennel seeds into meat
- Combine milk and white sauce mix in saucepan
- Cook white sauce on medium until thickened
- Mix half the white sauce and the eggs, then return all to saucepan
- Put half the macaroni in 2 quart casserole dish (supposed to lightly grease it, but I forgot)
- Spread meat mixture over macaroni
- Put remaining macaroni in next
- Spread white sauce on top
- Sprinkle Parmesan on top of that
- Bake uncovered at 350° around 35 minutes
Verdict: Fairly tasty. Not gourmet by any stretch, but pretty good. I’ve never had cinnamon with meat that I can remember and it works out pretty good. I can’t really taste the nutmeg in it, but that could be for any number of reasons not related to the recipe. I’ll have to try a real pastitsio recipe sometime and see how that works out.