Spice Market Pastitsio

Spice Market Pastitsio
Spice Market Pastitsio

Trying a new recipe from the Better Homes & Gardens Biggest Book of Casseroles. There’s another Pastitsio recipe in the book as well, but I didn’t notice it until I’d bought everything for this one. The other recipe appears to be made with fresh ingredients as opposed to the pre-made spaghetti sauce etc. called for in this recipe. Which means it’s probably better and has less salt. I’ll try that one some day.

The following ingredients are what I used. Recipe does not match exactly what’s in the cookbook.

  • 8 ounces (2 cups) dried elbow macaroni
  • 8 ounces ground beef
  • 14 ounces spaghetti sauce with onion and garlic
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ¼ teaspoon fennel seeds, crushed
  • 1 cup milk (lactose free)
  • 1 envelope white sauce mix
  • 2 slightly beaten eggs
  • ¼ cup crumbled feta cheese
  • ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • ¼ cup shredded Parmesan cheese
  1. Preheat oven to 350°
  2. Cook macaroni
  3. Brown hamburger (I did not drain)
  4. Stir spaghetti sauce, cinnamon, and fennel seeds into meat
  5. Combine milk and white sauce mix in saucepan
  6. Cook white sauce on medium until thickened
  7. Mix half the white sauce and the eggs, then return all to saucepan
  8. Put half the macaroni in 2 quart casserole dish (supposed to lightly grease it, but I forgot)
  9. Spread meat mixture over macaroni
  10. Put remaining macaroni in next
  11. Spread white sauce on top
  12. Sprinkle Parmesan on top of that
  13. Bake uncovered at 350° around 35 minutes
  14. Verdict: Fairly tasty. Not gourmet by any stretch, but pretty good. I’ve never had cinnamon with meat that I can remember and it works out pretty good. I can’t really taste the nutmeg in it, but that could be for any number of reasons not related to the recipe. I’ll have to try a real pastitsio recipe sometime and see how that works out.

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