Pasticcio

This meal is so nice if you are of course a pasta lover! It’s my daughter’s favourite so I had to nailed it. It’s not very difficult to make it’s only that you need to use different pans for every preparation of food you need for that recipe but trust me it pays off!

So you need to prepare the beef mince as you prepare it for the spaghetti bolognese then you need to boil the pasta and you need to add the bechamel sauce at the end.

What you need:

  • 1 pack of bucatini pasta ( I use this one where I usually bring from Greece or buy it from Greek shops in London)
  • 500 gr of mince beef
  • 2 tbsp tomato paste
  • 1 carrot
  • 1 onion
  • 1 garlic clove
  • 1 tbs ground cinnamon
  • oregano
  • parsley
  • 1 bay leaf

For the bechamel sauce

  • 1 litre milk
  • 100 gr butter
  • 100 gr flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • salt pepper
  • 2 egg yolks (optional)
  • 100gr cheese grated ( mozzarella or any other grated cheese you like)

Let’s make it:

  • Put the chopped onion and garlic in a hot pan with some olive oil and saute until brown.
  • Add the beef mince and and let it heat until brown
  • Add the tomato paste and and again saute for 1 or 2 minutes.
  • Add salt and pepper bay leaf, cinnamon and at the end just before 5 min before the meat is ready add the parsley.
  • Let the beef simmer for about an hour adding at times some water when it’s dry.
  • When ready remove the bay leaf and put it aside.
  • Boil the pasta drain and set aside.

For the bechamel  sauce

  • Heat the butter in a pot and when it has melted put the flour and beat with a hand whisk for a few minutes.
  • Add the milk bit by bit and and keep on whisking but   be careful the milk must be quite warm otherwise the texture of the bechamel won’t be good.
  • The mixture will be quite thick at first. You need to be persistent and patient.  As you add more and more of the milk, you will see how the béchamel sauce will start to become nice and creamy.
  • Add salt, pepper and the nutmeg
  • At the end when it’s ready turn off the heat and add the grated cheese you can also add 2 yolks of egg, personally i don’t put eggs.

Now you only need to assemble so you take a baking pan spread some olive oil and then spread half of the pasta then add on the top of the pasta the beef and some spoons of bechamel ( that will help the beef hold together better when serving) put the rest of the pasta and then add the bechamel on the top. You can also add some more grated cheese if you like.