When I was in high school, my best girlfriend would take me out to dinner each year on my birthday. Our favorite spot to celebrate was a tiny Greek restaurant with white tablecloths and menu items that were affordable for two minimum wage earning high school students. I always ordered the same thing: Avgolemono (Lemon Soup), Greek salad, Pastitsio, and Baklava for dessert. The meal was delicious, memorable, and comfort food all at the same time.
Fast forward a few (okay, several) years later to last week. I was reading the December issue of Gourmet magazine when I came across a photo of pastitsio that stopped me in my tracks. The pastitsio I had before always used lasagna style noodles and with finely ground lamb this made the dish rather dense and sometimes mushy. This photo showed a beautiful tray of pastitsio made with rows of perfectly stacked round ziti. Genius! I knew that I had to try this recipe right away, and the week of my birthday seemed like the perfect time.
I was so excited about the pastitsio that I decided to go big and do an entire Greek meal. Many years back, we had a family friend who ran a summer restaurant in the Greek village of Lakonias. She was kind enough to provide me with their family recipe for Avgolemono, which I’ve kept in my recipe files for years. The recipe makes a very pure and refreshing soup. Some may find it a bit bland, but I think in a small cup is a wonderful way to cleanse the palate between the heavier salad and pastitsio dishes.
For my birthday this year, I was given a new cookbook by Jamie Oliver with beautiful salad recipes and techniques. One of the first recipes in the book is for a delicious Greek Salad. So combining all of the above, the menu was set: Dolmes (hoarded from a trip to Trader Joe’s last April), Greek salad, Avgolemono, and Pastitsio. Baklava would have been fantastic, but sadly they can’t be bought nearby and making them from scratch would have been really over the top…There’s always next time!
Greek SaladAdapted from ‘Cook With Jamie’ by Jamie Oliver
Serves 4
Salad Ingredients:
4 ripe plum tomatoes
handful of kalamata olives, coarsely chopped
1/2 red onion, sliced thinly, then cut in half again
1 heaped teaspoon dried oregano
salt and freshly ground pepper
herb or red wine vinegar
1 large romaine lettuce, outer leaves discarded , inner leaves washed and dried
4 oz feta cheese
Dressing Ingredients:
2 T Avocado Oil
8 T Olive Oil
4 T lemon juice
2 pinches fleur de sel
freshly ground black pepper
2 T Red wine vinegar
Directions:
Place all dressing ingredients in a small jar with lid or empty salad dressing container and shake to combine. Set aside to let ingredients meld together.
Cut tomatoes erratically into about 1/2 inch shapes. In a large bowl, mix tomatoes, olives, red onion, most of the oregano, a few splashes of the vinegar, salt and pepper and set aside for about 5 minutes.
Tear the larger lettuce leaves into pieces and leave the smaller leaves whole. Add them to the bowl, then dress everything with most of the dressing and toss gently in the bowl with your fingers, making sure each leaf is coated with dressing. Move your dressed salad to individual plates or a large platter. Crumble large chunks of feta over the salad. Sprinkle the salad with the rest of the oregano and serve.
Avgolemono (Lemon Soup)
Serves 6-8
Ingredients:
1 onion, finely diced
2 T canola oil
2 T fresh parsley, finely chopped
1 t oregano (or 1 T fresh, finely chopped)
2 cups cooked white rice (such as basmati)
6 cups chicken broth
1 chicken breast, small dice
3 garlic cloves, minced
3 T lemon juice
3 eggs
Directions:
In a medium soup pot, heat canola oil over medium heat. Add onion and saute until soft but not browned, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, parsley, and oregano stirring until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add stock and bring to a simmer. Add chicken breast pieces and cook for 15 minutes. Stir in cooked rice.
Meanwhile, beat eggs with lemon juice in a medium bowl. Very slowly add hot broth, 1/4 cup at a time to gradually warm up the eggs without causing them to scramble. After adding about 1 cup of broth to eggs, remove pot from heat and slowly stir egg mixture into soup. Do not let mixture come to a boil. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve with a small slice of lemon to squeeze on top of the soup.
Soup before adding in the egg mixture.
Tempering the eggs with hot broth.
Next up: Pastitsio! Assembling the meat sauce and bechamel.
Ingredients for the bechamel
Pastitsio
As written in Gourmet, December, 2008
Serves 12-16
Ingredients:
For meat sauce:
2 medium onions, finely chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 pounds ground lamb
1 (28-ounces) can whole tomatoes in juice
1 (15-ounces) can whole tomatoes in juice
4 thyme sprigs
1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/4 teaspoons ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
For béchamel sauce:
7 tablespoons unsalted butter
6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
7 cups whole milk
3/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or kefalotyri cheese (2 ounces)
5 large egg yolks
For pasta:
2 pounds ziti
1 3/4 cups coarse fresh bread crumbs (from 4 slices firm white sandwich bread)
1/4 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or kefalotyri cheese
Directions:
Make meat sauce:
Cook onions in oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over medium heat, stirring frequently, until softened, about 7 minutes. Add garlic and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Increase heat to high, then stir in lamb and cook, stirring occasionally and breaking up any lumps with a fork, until meat starts to brown, about 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, drain both cans of tomatoes, reserving juice, and chop.
Pour off excess fat from skillet, then stir in tomatoes with their juice, thyme, spices, and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt. Simmer over low heat, partially covered, until some liquid has evaporated but sauce is still moist, about 40 minutes. Discard thyme.
Make béchamel while meat sauce simmers:
Melt butter in a heavy medium pot over medium heat. Whisk in flour, then cook roux, whisking frequently, until pale golden, about 6 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat milk in a heavy medium saucepan until just about to boil. Add milk to roux in a stream, whisking constantly until very smooth. Bring sauce to a boil over medium heat, whisking, then cook, whisking, 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in nutmeg, cheese, and 1 tablespoon salt.
Lightly beat yolks in a bowl. Gradually whisk in 2 cups béchamel, then whisk yolk mixture into remaining béchamel in saucepan. Cover with a round of buttered wax paper (buttered side down).
Cook pasta and assemble pastitsio:
Preheat oven to 375°F with rack in middle. Cook ziti in a pasta pot of boiling salted water (3 tablespoons salt for 6 quarts water) until al dente.
Drain pasta, then transfer to a large bowl and stir in 1 cup béchamel.
Arrange one third of pasta lengthwise in 1 layer in a large (17-by 11-inch) baking pan (about 2 inches deep).
Add half of meat sauce (about 3 cups) to baking pan, spreading evenly over pasta.
Make another layer of pasta and top with remaining meat sauce, then arrange remaining pasta on top.
Spread remaining béchamel (about 6 cups) evenly over top layer of pasta.
Stir together bread crumbs and cheese and sprinkle evenly over top of pastitsio.
Bake until crumbs are golden brown and sauce is bubbling, about 45 minutes.
Cooks’ notes:
• Meat sauce can be made 2 days ahead of assembling pastitsio and chilled (covered once cool). Bring to room temperature before using in pastitsio.
• Pastitsio can be baked 1 day ahead and chilled (covered once cool). Reheat in a 350°F oven, covered, until heated through, about 45 minutes.
Mixing the ziti
(I couldn’t find ziti anywhere, so I used Rigatoni for a close substitute)
Hot out of the oven!
