Pasticcio
Before a recent excursion to the grocery store, I asked Chris what he might like. Perhaps because he didn't get any of his mom's home cooking over Christmas this year, he asked if I'd be up for making some pasticcio. I haven't made pasticcio since our Easter at Chez Pominger, where we had to fashion a collar out of foil and cardboard just to hold the bechamel on... but sure, I said, I'd give it a shot but for game night, when we'd have six adults to tackle the thing. I brought home the ingredients.
Tonight is usually game night but it's also the CES in Vegas (which means Ray was out) and, as it turns out, both Jess and Tim were in work-hell with trips and deadlines and needing to work late and whatnot. No gamers coming to the house tonight, but pasticcio was made for my baby anyway.
The Greek Meat/Tomato Sauce came together just great, in a little under an hour from prep to finish. I really should just make up a bunch of this to have in the freezer but we so rarely eat pasta (Chris has retained a bit of an aversion after too many pasta dinners as a poor, college vegetarian) I don't think of it.
The rest of the pasticcio came together just fine, though I didn't have a regular baking pan big enough and had to pull out the giant cake pan I bought for making Ray's Roulette Cake and still had to make a foil collar for the pan just to be sure I didn't lose the bechamel layer. Chris got his happy look after one bite so I know it came out right, even though I couldn't find exactly the right pasta (had to substitute perciatelli... you can see from the close-up photo, they're tubular pasta, long like spaghetti with a small hole... the recipe calls for slightly thicker pasta with a bigger hole but very similar).
I've decided this dish can only be made once in any calendar year, though, unless I send it in to Cooking Light and they decide to tackle the challenge of lightening up this recipe. It uses a dozen eggs, three cups of whole milk, a stick of butter, a pound and a half of beef, and a pound of cheese. Holy Greek Heart Attack in a Pan, Batman!
Now I've opened the bottle of Washington state Sangiovese I was going to share with the fellas tonight and I'm going to make myself comfortable reading Ars Magica 5th Edition, because to everyone's complete shock, I think I want to run a game and ArM 5 is shaping up to be my first choice.
Tonight is usually game night but it's also the CES in Vegas (which means Ray was out) and, as it turns out, both Jess and Tim were in work-hell with trips and deadlines and needing to work late and whatnot. No gamers coming to the house tonight, but pasticcio was made for my baby anyway.
The Greek Meat/Tomato Sauce came together just great, in a little under an hour from prep to finish. I really should just make up a bunch of this to have in the freezer but we so rarely eat pasta (Chris has retained a bit of an aversion after too many pasta dinners as a poor, college vegetarian) I don't think of it.
The rest of the pasticcio came together just fine, though I didn't have a regular baking pan big enough and had to pull out the giant cake pan I bought for making Ray's Roulette Cake and still had to make a foil collar for the pan just to be sure I didn't lose the bechamel layer. Chris got his happy look after one bite so I know it came out right, even though I couldn't find exactly the right pasta (had to substitute perciatelli... you can see from the close-up photo, they're tubular pasta, long like spaghetti with a small hole... the recipe calls for slightly thicker pasta with a bigger hole but very similar).
I've decided this dish can only be made once in any calendar year, though, unless I send it in to Cooking Light and they decide to tackle the challenge of lightening up this recipe. It uses a dozen eggs, three cups of whole milk, a stick of butter, a pound and a half of beef, and a pound of cheese. Holy Greek Heart Attack in a Pan, Batman!
Now I've opened the bottle of Washington state Sangiovese I was going to share with the fellas tonight and I'm going to make myself comfortable reading Ars Magica 5th Edition, because to everyone's complete shock, I think I want to run a game and ArM 5 is shaping up to be my first choice.
Labels: food
Oh. My. God.
First, I had a heart attack. Then I desperately wanted a piece. That sounds divine...
A lot of work to do, but looks like pretty and good results.
Do you deliver?
Lex asks if I deliver. Funny thing is, I've considered going into business making home cooked food for my various bachelor or non-cooky friends. For a small fee, I'll whip up a meal, portion it out into person-sized servings, and bring it to your house so you, too, can enjoy the goodness.