# Pastitsio



## Gossie (Jan 9, 2007)

Pardon me if I spelled it incorrectly. 

Anyone have a fast, easy way to make this?   Has to be delicious too.  LOL 

Isn't it similar to a lasagna with white sauce?


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## XeniA (Jan 9, 2007)

Make a nice bolognese sauce (ground beef, onions, tomato); boil up the pastitsio noodles; either layer them or slop them all together; top with a nice cheesy bechamel sauce; bake until the top's browned.

There, is that easy enough? I promise it's delicious! (and, yes, it's pretty similar to lasagna ...)


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## Michelemarie (Jan 9, 2007)

I've never heard of this but it sounds good - so it has red and white sauce?


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## Gossie (Jan 9, 2007)

Ayrton said:
			
		

> Make a nice bolognese sauce (ground beef, onions, tomato); boil up the pastitsio noodles; either layer them or slop them all together; top with a nice cheesy bechamel sauce; bake until the top's browned.
> 
> There, is that easy enough? I promise it's delicious! (and, yes, it's pretty similar to lasagna ...)



There is a special pastitsio noodle?????   

That DOES sound easy.   .. tomato sauce? diced tomatoes?  crushed tomatoes?  fried green tomatoes?    just kidding about the green ones.   I'm thinking that it's tomato sauce, but before I even ask anymore, I better look up bolognese sauce.  LoL    

Thanks Ayrton


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## Gossie (Jan 9, 2007)

I found this recipe:


1 lb. ground beef
1 lb. ground veal or lamb
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 large onion, chopped
4 - 6 cloves of garlic....depending on your love for garlic and how much your family can stand
1/4 cup red wine
2 carrots, peeled and sliced
1 16 oz. can whole tomatoes with/ juice
salt & pepper to taste
Is it close?


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## Gossie (Jan 9, 2007)

Michelemarie said:
			
		

> I've never heard of this but it sounds good - so it has red and white sauce?



Yes, although one I tasted had mostly white sauce (or bechamel).


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## XeniA (Jan 9, 2007)

Gossie said:
			
		

> I found this recipe:
> 
> 1 lb. ground beef
> 1 lb. ground veal or lamb
> ...



Right on the money! Just a nice "regular spaghetti sauce" bascially, which is dead easy to make -- sautee the onions and garlic; add the ground meat and saute, dump in the tomatoes (puree, paste, whole -- whatever turns you on, really) and the other ingredients you list above as well (plus a bit of sugar, methinks).

Yep, there's a special noodle! I'd better go and find a photo on Google for you. Be back!


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## Gossie (Jan 9, 2007)

Ayrton said:
			
		

> Right on the money! Just a nice "regular spaghetti sauce" bascially, which is dead easy to make -- sautee the onions and garlic; add the ground meat and saute, dump in the tomatoes (puree, paste, whole -- whatever turns you on, really) and the other ingredients you list above as well (plus a bit of sugar, methinks).
> 
> Yep, there's a special noodle! I'd better go and find a photo on Google for you. Be back!



Why do I fear that this hick town doesn't have any?  RoFL


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## XeniA (Jan 9, 2007)

Here you go! This is the finished product, of course, but you can see the pasta's a tubular thing -- looks like long drinking straws, basically. (The pictures on the pasta package always kill me -- they'd have you believe that you're supposed to sit and line the noodles up perfectly, when, of course, you just slop them in unless you're seriously anal retentive ...).

Don't know which hick town you live in, but never mind ... it doesn't really matter if you can't get those. Use penne or even elbow macaroni (which _every_ hick town has ) and it will taste just as good!


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## Gossie (Jan 9, 2007)

Ayrton said:
			
		

> Here you go! This is the finished product, of course, but you can see the pasta's a tubular thing -- looks like long drinking straws, basically. (The pictures on the pasta package always kill me -- they'd have you believe that you're supposed to sit and line the noodles up perfectly, when, of course, you just slop them in unless you're seriously anal retentive ...).
> 
> Don't know which hick town you live in, but never mind ... it doesn't really matter if you can't get those. Use penne or even elbow macaroni (which _every_ hick town has ) and it will taste just as good!



I haven't looked for the long tubular ones.  But I sure am going to look.  Do they have a special name?


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## Gossie (Jan 9, 2007)

My Greek Kitchen - Pastitso

There is a recipe for Pastitso here, you have to check out the page, it has animation.   LoL


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## XeniA (Jan 9, 2007)

Gossie said:
			
		

> I haven't looked for the long tubular ones.  But I sure am going to look.  Do they have a special name?



They probably do ... but chances are good the name I'd find here if I ran over to the supermarket would be in Greek, and what good will that do you?!

Use the best you can and don't sweat it Gossie!


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## XeniA (Jan 9, 2007)

Okay, I think the name you want is 'bucatini' or at least that's what they call it at Barilla.

There is a possibility that the Greek version has a larger hole though. Does that maybe fall into the category of "everything I ever wanted to know about pastitsio pasta, and more"?!


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## Robo410 (Jan 9, 2007)

you can certainly substitute penne.  (zitti is a bit too large)


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## Gossie (Jan 13, 2007)

Ayrton said:
			
		

> Okay, I think the name you want is 'bucatini' or at least that's what they call it at Barilla.
> 
> There is a possibility that the Greek version has a larger hole though. Does that maybe fall into the category of "everything I ever wanted to know about pastitsio pasta, and more"?!




I like Barilla     Will look for it next major shopping day.  Thanks again, Ayrton


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## XeniA (Jan 13, 2007)

Here's another photo, this time "bucati." It appears to be closer to the Greek pastitcio pasta in that it has a larger central hole (again, the Greek stuff's very much like a drinking straw). However, I can't really confirm that you want to look for "bucati" rather than "bucatini" -- I haven't found a really solid confirmation on the Internet that there is a difference, let alone that the difference is the size of the hole ...

Basically, again, just look for something similar, with as large a hole as you can find. If you find something similar that's mostly solid, however, I'd think it's actually less suitable overall than just switching to penne or some such -- solid pasta would make this dish unpleasant, I'd think.

Let us know, huh?!


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