THE ABSOLUTE BEST PASTITSIO RECIPE FROM MY NEW COOKBOOK

Okay, so pastitsio won on the polls as everyone's favorite Greek dish. I'm not surprised at all. But as I promised, I will provide you with a free authentic recipe from my new cookbook. The cookbook will be available for purchase very soon, so I'll keep you updated. It contains all of the most authentic Greek recipes, straight from the village.

Ingredients:
-2 pounds of ground chuck
-1 large chopped onion
-2 cloves of minced garlic
-1 six ounce can of tomato paste
-1/2 cup of red wine
-1 teaspoon of salt
-1 teaspoon of pepper
-1/8 teaspoon of allspice
-1/8 teaspoon of nutmeg
-1/8 teaspoon of cinnamon
-1 teaspoon of oregano
-1 pound of large uncut macaroni or ziti pasta
-1/4 pound of butter
-3 eggs, slightly beaten
-6 ounces of Romano cheese, grated

 Once you get all of your ingredients prepared for the pastitsio....In a frying pan, brown the meat, and drain off the fat. Add your onion, garlic, and spices. Saute this for about 5 minutes. Then add your tomato paste and wine, and let it simmer for about 10 minutes. Then remove the frying pan from the heat and set it aside. Then boil your pasta using the directions on the package, drain the noodles and rinse. Then you're going to mix the pasta with your melted butter, beaten eggs, and cheese. Put about 1/2 of the pasta on the bottom of a baking dish. Then cover this with your meat sauce, and add the other 1/2 of the pasta on top of this. Then you're going to cover this with your Bechamel sauce (see recipe below)

Ingredients for Bechamel sauce:
-1/4 pound of butter
-1 cup of flour
-8 cups of milk
-1 teaspoon of salt
-4 eggs, beaten

First you're going to melt the butter in a saucepan...add the flour and mix it well. Slowly add the milk and the salt and cool it on low heat until its thickened to the consistency of a heavy white sauce. Stir continuously to prevent it from scorching. Then remove the thickened sauce from the heat. Then beat the eggs well, and slowly add them to the white sauce, whisking quickly. Now you're going to pour this sauce on top of the pastitsio that you just prepared. Then sprinkle a little more cheese over it and bake the pastitsio for 45 minutes at 325 degrees until its golden brown.