Pastitsio

Serves 8 Prep time: 15 minutes Cooking time: 1 hour 15 minutes

2 onions, chopped

5ml crushed garlic

30ml olive oil

1kg lean beef mince

2 x 410g tins peeled tomatoes

3ml ground cinnamon

7ml sea salt crystals

2ml freshly ground black pepper

500g cooked tubular pasta such as penne

or macaroni, tossed in olive oil

For the béchamel sauce

100g (110ml) butter

100g (200ml) cake flour

750ml milk

1ml ground nutmeg

1 egg, beaten

freshly ground black pepper to taste

200g (500ml) grated Pecorino or Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 180°C. Coat a square 24cm x 24cm baking tin with cooking spray and set aside.

To make the meat sauce, sauté the onion and garlic in the heated olive oil in a heavy-based frying pan.

Add mince and fry until light brown in colour.Add the tomatoes, cinnamon, salt andpepper and reduce heat and simmer for30-35 minutes or until liquid has been absorbed.

Remove from stove and set aside to cool. To make béchamel sauce, melt the butter in a heavy-based saucepan, add the flour and stir until cooked. Slowly add the milk and, using a wooden spoon, stir until the sauce thickens.Remove from the heat and stir in the remaining ingredients.

To assemble, spoon half of the pasta into the base of the tin and top with half the meat sauce. Top with the remaining pasta and rest of meat and spoon over the béchamel sauce. Bake for 45 minutes until golden in colour. Remove from oven and set aside to cool. Pastitsio is served warm, not hot.

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