These golden-brown scones have the ideal flavor balance of acidic cranberry and sweet orange.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 1 hr 30 mins |
| Additional Time: | 10 mins |
| Total Time: | 2 hrs |
| Servings: | 10 |
| Yield: | 1 (9×13-inch) casserole |
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 ½ pounds lean ground beef
- 1 (15 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
- 1/2 cup dry red wine
- 1/2 cup beef broth
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon or 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 whole clove
- salt and pepper to taste
- 12 ounces bucatini or pastitsio pasta
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1/4 cup grated Kefalotiri, Parmesan, or Pecorino cheese
- 1 dash ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 3 cups milk
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 1/2 cups grated Kefalotiri, Parmesan, or Pecorino cheese, divided
- 1 large egg, lightly beaten
- 1 large egg yolk, lightly beaten
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9×13-inch casserole dish.
- Make the meat sauce: Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add onion and garlic; cook and stir gently until onion is soft, 3 to 5 minutes. Increase heat and add ground beef; cook and stir until browned and crumbly, about 5 minutes. Stir in tomatoes, wine, broth, tomato paste, parsley, cinnamon, salt, pepper, and clove. Cover and simmer over low heat for 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile prepare the pasta: Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook until tender yet firm to the bite, 8 to 10 minutes. Drain.
- Pour melted butter, 1/4 cup grated cheese, nutmeg, salt, and pepper over pasta; toss well and cool briefly. Add 2 eggs and toss again; set aside.
- Make the béchamel: Melt butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Add flour; cook and stir for 2 minutes. Pour in milk and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Season with nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Cool slightly before stirring in 1 cup grated cheese, beaten egg, and egg yolk.
- Stir 1/2 cup of béchamel sauce into meat sauce.
- To assemble pastitsio: Arrange pasta in the bottom of the prepared baking dish so that all of the noodles are nicely lined up and are as level as possible for a great visual effect when serving. Spoon meat sauce over pasta; top with remaining béchamel sauce, spreading evenly. Sprinkle remaining 1/2 cup grated cheese on top.
- Bake in the preheated oven until bubbling and golden brown on top, about 50 minutes. Let stand for 10 minutes before cutting into squares.
- This recipe was tested in our test kitchen in June 2023 and was updated to use bucatini pasta instead of ziti, and added crushed tomatoes to the meat sauce.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 556 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 22 g |
| Cholesterol | 208 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Protein | 34 g |
| Saturated Fat | 19 g |
| Sodium | 940 mg |
| Sugars | 8 g |
| Fat | 36 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I am 100% Greek and I made this recipe as my mother’s recipe does not have measurements lol and it is a fantastic recipe! I would say it rivals my mom’s and all my aunt’s! Bravo!
This was a huge hit with my family! Lots of work to make, but well worth the effort.
Wonderful recipe! Only thing I altered was to add an extra cream layer between meat and pasta but either way, would still have been great!
I use Ragu spaghetti sauce rather than using tomato paste, wine, and broth. This speeds up the recipe.
It is a little fussy but so worth the effort. YUMMY!
Great recipe! Ok, but I felt it just a little bland definitely needs a bit more Parmesan as someone else stated and I would add a 1/2 tap cinnamon to the meat mixture to make it a bit more authentic tasting
This was a bit time consuming for a weekday meal (I didn’t notice the time indicated before starting, and by then it was too late – my bad!) but still tasty and had simple instructions. Not sure where I went wrong as I baked it for the time and temp indicated, but the bottom got quite crispy and nearly burnt, resulting in crunchy noodles at the bottom. The bake overall was quite dry, but tasty. Next time I may try a lower temp and baking for longer, or perhaps increasing liquids a bit. The cream sauce is excellent -so good that I may start topping all of my baked pastas with this; I increased the nutmeg by a pinch or so and it was delicious.
Super easy to follow and well worth the effort!
I didn’t have wine, but, I just made this for the first time, and everyone loved it.
Followed the recipe closely, and it came out great. Whole family agreed this is a keeper.
I had this recipes for more than 20 years from the original Tess Mallos cookbook. I always get rave reviews whenever I cook it. My son begs for it. The only change is that I make more cream sauce and add it to the bottom layer. It’s heavenly.
To make this healthier, I substituted ground turkey for the ground beef; and subbed olive oil for the butter (and used less than called for) except for in the cream sauce. In the cream sauce I used butter, but I halved the ingredients and only put it on top – I did NOT put any in the meat sauce… again to keep it healthier.
My husband is Greek and he said this recipe tasted very much like his grandmothers recipe. I agree that it needed more Parmesan cheese but over all it was good and made enough for a lot of people. Will make it again soon.
This was very good and not hard to make. It was a big hit with my family. I made a few additions (thus the 4 stars and not 5). I added cinnamon and cloves to the meat sauce. The cloves made a big difference. I added goat cheese to the cream sauce because I thought it needed a little extra kick. Otherwise, great!
I always make the recipe exactly as written the first time before starting to make changes. I would have given it 5 stars if it hadn’t had the mistake in the directions about the cheese. However, I also see no reason to cook the onions first instead of just cooking the ground beef and onions together. The meat needs a lot more seasoning as it required a lot of salt to add to the flavor when eating. I’ll make it again and do some changes and see how it goes. The family loved it.
Added cinnamon and nutmeg like suggested earlier, and extra parmesan for the topping. Will definitely make this again.
Great recipe for ground meat! Hubby loved it.
very good but not authentic Greek DISH – IT MUST HAVE CINNAMON Iin the sauce.
Liked the flavor, but used gluten free, corn based pasta and it ended up tasting more like corn bread. Better if use normal, or perhaps rice based pasta
After reading the reviews, I also added a touch of cinnamon to the meat sauce, increased the tomato paste per my taste, and mixed the sauce with the pasta. Then layered half pasta, half sauce, remaining pasta and topped with sauce and Parmesan cheese. Thanks for a delicious recipe.
I have made this recipe 3 times now and every time it has been a hit with my family and friends. It is full of flavor and is great for leftovers the next day or more. One change I did make was to the meat sauce. I added a little lemon juice and mint to it after the first attempt and it really brightens up the dish. Great recipe and fun to make.