Pasticcio

I took some minced beef out of the freezer last night without the slightest idea of what I wanted to make hoping something would occur to me ... as I'm sure has happened to most of us at some time or the other! Well this morning I still had no idea what to make with it and so started to trawl through my folders and came across several recipes for Pastitsio, or Pasticcio as it's called in Italian. There are a myriad of versions and they all seem to be for anywhere between eight and twelve people ... great for feeding a hungry crowd but not for a small household like ours.

So after making myself dizzy reading all the different recipes I finally came up with the following pared down version. Most probably it is not authentic but after reading all the different recipes I wonder ... what does authentic mean in this case. I think ultimately the only test is whether it tastes good and hits the spot for you and your family. One thing all these recipes had in common was the use of cinnamon and a little wine whether red or, in some few instances, white. Others used a type of local cheese I have never heard of and most definitely cannot source here. So authentic in my case is using ingredients that I can find locally just as those grandmothers did so long ago when they devised the original recipes.

This is definitely something for when you have the time and inclination to be in the kitchen. Preferably a cold and inclement day which suits the serving of this kind of meal to a T. You can prepare the meat sauce beforehand but I would recommend you cook the pasta, make the white sauce, and layer up your ovenproof dish in one go. You could most probably let it wait at this point before baking it. The Italian version sometimes has leftover veggies added as well I understand, which is something I might try next time. I can imagine roasted cubes of aubergine, courgettes and red peppers would combine very well here.

Well this disappeared very quickly and we both went back for second helpings. There is just a tiny slice left in the dish ... not enough for a second meal as I'd been thinking. The cinnamon really shines through and gives a wonderfully deep taste to this dish, whilst the meat sauce was simmering away the kitchen was filled with a lovely appetite-inducing aroma. Definitely a hit!

Pasticcio - Serves 4

250g short pasta
15g butter

Meat Sauce:
2 Tbsp olive oil
½ medium onion, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 stick of celery, finely chopped
350g lean minced beef
100ml red wine
½ a 400g tin chopped tomatoes
1 Tbsp tomato purée
1 tspn ground cinnamon
pinch ground cloves
2 tspn dried oregano
1 Tbsp fresh oregano, chopped
2 bay leaves

White Sauce:
1 egg, lightly beaten
25g parmesan, grated
60g butter
60g plain flour
600ml litres full-fat milk
½ tspn freshly grated nutmeg

Heat the olive oil in a medium-sized pan and add the onion, garlic and celery; fry until it starts to colour slightly. Add the mince and fry over a high heat for 3–4 minutes, breaking up any lumps. Add the wine, tomatoes, purée, cinnamon, cloves, oregano, bay leaves, 100ml water, and season with salt and pepper. Simmer for 30–40 minutes, stirring now and then, until the sauce is thick but still moist. Discard the bay leaves.

Meanwhile, bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Add the pasta and cook for a minute less than stated on the packet, it will cook some more in the oven. Drain, transfer to a bowl, stir in a knob of butter to prevent the pasta sticking together, and leave to cool.

For the white sauce, melt the butter in a pan, add the flour and stir for 1 minute. Pour in the milk and bring slowly to the boil, stirring all the time. Simmer for 5–7 minutes until it's thickened. Add the nutmeg and season well.

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Stir about a quarter of the white sauce into the warm pasta together with the beaten egg and half the cheese. Keep the remaining sauce warm over a low heat stirring in more milk if it becomes too thick.

Butter an ovenproof dish 6-7cm deep with approximately a 1.5 litre capacity. Spread half of the pasta over the base, pour over the meat sauce, then top this with the rest of the pasta. Spoon over the remaining white sauce and sprinkle over the rest of the cheese. Bake for 40 minutes until bubbling and golden. Let cool at least 10 minutes before serving.