Ingredients: |
Ingredients: Macaroni Layer: 1 lb cut ziti, 1/2 stick of butter or margarine, 3 eggs, beaten and 1 cup grated romano cheese
Meat Layer: 1 1/2 lbs of ground beef, 1 med onion, chopped, 1/2 stick of butter or margarine (optional, may need this if meat is too lean), 8 oz can of tomato sauce, 1 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon (at least but to taste), 1 teaspoon of salt (to taste), 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder (to taste) and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper
Cream Sauce: 1 stick of butter or margarine, 3/4 to 1 cup of flour, 4 cups of milk, warmed, 3 eggs, beaten, 1 cup romano
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Directions: |
Directions:Meat sauce can be made a day ahead which makes it easier. Brown meat with onion & butter. Let cook until juices dry out. Add tomato sauce and spices. Tilt pan to remove any excess grease which depends on the lean grade of meat.
Cream Sauce: Beat eggs ahead. Melt butter in pot and gradually stir in flour with whisk. Add flour until thick paste is made and then gradually add milk stirring constantly. Stir over medium heat until just beginning to bubble and is thick. Beat in a very small amount of hot cream sauce into beaten eggs to change the temp of the eggs gradually to warm. Once a little of the sauce has warmed up the eggs you can return the egg/sauce mixture to the remainder of the cream sauce, then add the grated cheese.
Cook ziti and drain. Beat eggs ahead and then add cheese to eggs in a mixing bowl large enough to hold cooked ziti. Toss or stir hot ziti with butter or margarine. Mix ziti with cheese/egg mixture.
NOTE: It might be easier to drain noodles into colander then put butter in bottom of noodle pot, melt then re-add drained ziti to pot tossing to coat noodles with butter. Then add eggs & cheese mixture to coat noodles.
TO ASSEMBLE: Grease bottom of 11 x 15 or 13 x 9 pan.
Bottom Layer - spread a bit more than half of the ziti
Middle Layer - add ground beef mixture and it is easier to add if meat is warm
Add rest of the ziti noodles and some of the meat mixture might show through which is okay
Last Layer - Cream mixture: pour cream on top of meat and ziti then sprinkle with Romano cheese over the top
Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to 1 hour until browned and it may brown unevenly. Let sit about 15 minutes before serving so mixture can set up and slicing stays intact. |
This recipe for Pastitsio is from