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Gluten-free Pastitsio (Greek-Style Baked Pasta / Lasagna)
I literally cannot believe that after nearly 7 years of blogging and sharing recipes here with you, that I have never shared this one. It’s literally one of my MOST favorite foods ever. Gluten-free Pastitsio (pa-STEE-tsee-oh), a Greek-Style Baked Pasta / Lasagna, of sort, this is 100% my kind of comfort food. A Christmas dinner tradition, this is the food I grew up eating for the holidays. My Yia Yia always made an incredible tray of pastitsio and since her passing, we can always count on my mother to manage the task and do it as if she herself was the Greek one. Years ago, when I discovered my gluten intolerance, my mom so graciously tweaked the family recipe to be made gluten-free and I never had to be without. Overtime I have made it myself and continued to slightly adjust things and I am so honored to be sharing it with all of you, finally.
With layers of ground meat (beef or lamb) and pasta and a creamy, puffy, eggy, cheesy béchamel on top, there are hints of warming cinnamon throughout the entire dish and then it’s baked to perfection. This dish steps in where casseroles and lasagna leave off. Traditionally made with bucatini, a long tubular pasta laid out going in the same direction, I make mine gluten-free using instead an organic brown rice penne. In place of regular flour in the béchamel, I use a gluten-free all-purpose blend.
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Tomato Sauce
With it being winter and the opportunity to cook with fresh tomatoes is long past, this is the most delicious way to make the best of using store-bought canned tomatoes. This is a variation on my mom’s classic tomato sauce recipe that she has been making forever. It is so delicious. I remember being a kid and sneaking into the kitchen to steal spoonfuls, sometimes I would even ladle some into a small bowl and eat it like soup. There is so much flavor, a hint of spice and it is so easy and inexpensive to make. It had been a very long time since I had made this, so I decided to make a big pot since I had planned on making lasagna with it. Sometimes my mom would cook meatballs and or sausage in with the sauce, that gave it even more flavor.
I decided to use fresh herbs since they looked pretty decent at the market and I buy organic tomatoes. My mom never has, and subsequently I don’t, measure the spices on this. I add to taste. As it simmers, taste it, does it need more italian seasoning? Like a bit more heat? Add more red pepper flakes. You can add a glug of red wine or even a tablespoon or two of sugar if you like your sauce a bit sweeter. You can make a large amount of this and freeze it for later, like I do. I made it for lasagna and froze what we didn’t use.
Tomato Sauce
adapted from my mother’s recipe2 28oz cans organic tomato puree
1 28 oz can water
1 12oz can organic tomato paste
2 12 oz cans water
1 medium onion (u can peel, pierce and put in whole or chop finely)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 large bunch of fresh parsley, roughly chopped
1 large bunch of fresh basil, roughly chopped
crushed red pepper flakes, to taste
Italian seasoning
1 tablespoon salt
Bay leafCombine all ingredients in a large pot and simmer 2 – 3 hours. Serve over your favorite pasta, use in lasagna, or allow it to cool and refrigerate or freeze it for later. That’s it, really.
