As you
can see, this is clearly
NOT
bread salad. Why not you ask? Well this is a tale of shopping gone
wrong, when good neighbors go bad.
Failure 1: Our local bakery sold us a stale baguette.
What do you even do about that? Can you return it with a chunk missing
and explain you nearly lost a molar trying to gnaw on it? That you are
not a beaver equipped with tree tearing teeth?
I tried to make
the best of it. When you get lemons, make lemonade. When you get stale
bread, make bread salad. A beautiful, fresh,
Greek
Bread Salad.
Failure 2: There
was no feta in the fridge. Not behind the pickles, not stacked under
the leftovers. Nowhere. Ryan was forced to run out for some. Turns
out not only were we out of feta, but also out of cash. The store would
not let him use a credit card.
"Minimum
credit card purchase $10," they said. Very neighborly. Also,
illegal.
Ryan abandoned the feta. I abandoned all hope of a well made greek
bread salad.
The silver lining:
I'd planned a whole greek meal, so there was pastitsio in the oven, and
it was delicious. It's like a greek lasagna, with layers of sauce and
noodles, the cinnamon making a subtle but tasty difference from italian
fare.
PASTITSIO
INGREDIENTS:
For the meat sauce:
2 T butter
1.5 C chopped
yellow onion (this was 3/4 of a large onion for me)
1 clove garlic
minced
1 lb ground turkey (or beef, or lamb)
1 t salt (plus more
to taste)
pepper (to taste)
1 t oregano
1/2 t cinnamon
2 C
canned tomatoes (use crushed, or crush whole ones yourself)
1 bay
leaf
2 T tomato paste
For
the bechamel/crema/whatever you want to call it3 T butter
1/2
C flour
2 C milk
3 beaten eggs
Also you need:3/4 pound ziti, penne or elbow
macaroni cooked according to the package directions and drained.
2 C
grated parmigiano reggiano or romano cheese
1/4 C bread crumbs
DIRECTIONS:
In
a Dutch Oven (or other pot/pan with lots of surface area and high
sides), melt 2 T of butter on low heat. Add the onions and cook for 3
minutes until the onions are translucent and softer. Add the garlic and
cook 1 minute more. Add the ground meat and increase the heat to
medium. Add your salt, pepper, oregano and cinnamon. Use a spoon to
break down the meat and brown it. When there is no more pink, stir in
the canned tomatoes and tomato paste and add the bay leaf. Reduce the
heat to low and cook for 35 minutes covered.
Preheat your oven to
350 F. Cook the pasta according to the box, drain and set aside.
Begin on the cream sauce. Melt the butter in a pot, then whisk in the
flour to form a roux. Cook for 2-3 minutes on low heat. Stream in the
milk, whisking constantly (this works best with warm milk, but I'm often
too lazy to heat it separately). Make sure your heat is very low, and
add the eggs, one at a time, whisking thoroughly between each. If the
heat is two high you will have scrambled eggs. Once they are
incorporated, you can increase the heat and keep whisking until it
starts to thicken. Ideally, you'll time it so that this is ready when
it's ready to be layered on, and not before, but because everything's
baked together, it's okay if you mess it up a little.
Build your
pastitsio in a large pan (9 x 11). Grease the bottom. Then lay down
the breadcrumbs to coat. Add half the pasta, making sure it covers
completely. Next comes the meat sauce, all of it. Smooth it down so
that it covers the pasta, make sure to get the edges too. Then you add
half of your crema/bechamel/cream sauce thing. Pour it over the meat
sauce so the whole layer is covered. Top with half of the cheese (about
a cup). Next comes another layer of pasta (the rest of the pasta). On
top of the pasta, use the rest of your bechamel, then the rest of your
cheese.
Bake for 45 minutes at 350F. Let rest before cutting
into it.
About the author: This post was written by Carrietracy at The Hungry Hippo. 
Grenadine. Just the word invokes images of sugary-sweet unnaturally red
#5 colored Shirley Temples of our youth. Or, in later years, as a
crimson float atop a 32oz Tequila Sunrise at your local Chotchkie's fun
time restaurant. But this ingredient doesn’t have to be artificially
flavored and filled with the dreaded HFCS. You can very easily make your own or buy a high quality small batch version. These fresh, tart
versions will make all the difference in your cocktails (or Shirley
Temples), like the 1898 Ward
8, a delicious blend of rye, fresh juice
and grenadine.
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