| Level: | Intermediate |
| Total: | 1 hr 25 min |
| Active: | 40 min |
| Yield: | 8 to 10 servings |
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 teaspoons herbes de Provence
- 1 1/2 teaspoons plus 2 pinches four-spice powder (quatre epices)
- 2 pounds ground lamb shoulder
- 1/2 cup white wine
- One 28-ounce can tomatoes, pureed
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2 1/2 cups milk
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 3 egg yolks, at room temperature
- 2 cups grated Pecorino Romano
- 1 cup full-fat Greek yogurt
- 1 pound ziti pasta
- 1 cup fresh parsley leaves, minced
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add the onions and cook until soft, stirring often, about 8 minutes. Add the pepper flakes, garlic, herbes de provence and 1 1/2 teaspoons of the four-spice powder. Add the lamb, raise the heat to medium high and let cook, breaking up any chunks, until browned, 5 to 8 minutes. Add the wine and simmer until reduced slightly. Add the tomatoes and season with salt and pepper. Lower the heat, cover and simmer until thick, about 45 minutes.
- To make the bechamel sauce, bring the milk to a simmer in a medium pot set over medium heat. Melt the butter in a medium saute pan over medium heat. Whisk the flour into the butter and cook for 2 minutes. Whisk the warm milk into the flour mixture. Add the remaining 2 pinches four-spice powder and cook for 5 minutes at a simmer, whisking often, until thickened. Remove from the heat.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Whisking constantly, slowly pour a quarter of the milk mixture into the eggs. Whisk the egg mixture back into the pot. Whisk in 1 cup of the cheese. Fold in the yogurt. Season with salt and pepper.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
- Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the pasta to al dente according to the package instructions. Drain and combine with the lamb sauce. Adjust the salt and pepper to taste.
- Transfer to a large baking dish and top with the bechamel sauce and the remaining 1 cup cheese. Bake until the top is caramelized, about 45 minutes. Garnish with the parsley.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 10 servings |
| Calories | 721 |
| Total Fat | 42 g |
| Saturated Fat | 19 g |
| Carbohydrates | 47 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 4 g |
| Sugar | 8 g |
| Protein | 36 g |
| Cholesterol | 159 mg |
| Sodium | 887 mg |
| Serving Size | 1 of 10 servings |
| Calories | 721 |
| Total Fat | 42 g |
| Saturated Fat | 19 g |
| Carbohydrates | 47 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 4 g |
| Sugar | 8 g |
| Protein | 36 g |
| Cholesterol | 159 mg |
| Sodium | 887 mg |
Reviews
Amazing recipe. Well liked. Oh, but about as far away from a one dish meal as you can get. So tasty.
Really delicious but very big and not a dinner to make with a broken dishwasher! Lots of work!
My neighbor was going for her daily walk with her son, they stopped by to compliment me on the smell of this dish . I invited them to have dinner..it’s a lot of pasta for 1 night…they loved it. I shared the recipe and she’s going to try it! This is by far, the most ridiculously, delicious pasta dish I’ve ever made
This is so good. My family loved it and literally could not stop eating it. It did take some work to prepare, and created lots of dishes. I agree it could take more bechamel. I will try making 1.5 times of it next time.
We love this. I agree with other reviewers that this uses a lot of pans but it’s worth it. It makes a ton! We do up the béchamel sauce and do 50/50 lamb and ground beef. I have also done 1/2 the pasta and added a full head of cauliflower florets for a “healthier” twist. Either way, this dish is wonderful.
I have made this several times. It is good enough to make lamb converts. My friends who swear they hate lamb have tried this and changed their tune. Definitely makes a bigger kitchen mess than most meals but well worth it!!!
Delicious
Watched GZ make this on The Kitchen and knew I had to try. I made it with ground beef instead of lamb and didn’t have all the right spices, but got as close as I could with what I had on hand. A bit of work to prepare, but turned out so good! Paired with a Caesar salad and breadsticks. Made plenty for my family of four with enough for leftovers.
I have a lot of leftover cheese and pasta that I need to use. This sounds delicious and it raids all the things I have in abundance. A real pantry and freezer puller. I did sub ground turkey for the ground lamb, I’m sure there is a subtle difference but ground lamb is almost 10 bucks a lb and ground turkey is half that and already on hand.
This is nice variation on the pastitsio my Greek family makes. Our spice blend is two parts cinnamon to one part nutmeg and one part allspice. No herbs de Provence but a good helping of mint. Like I said it’s a variation. I tend to double the bechamel cause there’s never enough!
So yummy. But I improvised some of the herbs