Mousstitso

I love Pastitso and Moussaka.

We had a pile of reat tomatoes from our garden and an eggplant to use as well. I also had some ground beef out for supper.

I totally made this up as I went along and HOLY COW this turned out incredible.

I decided with the ingredients I had I would combine these two favroite dishes of mine and wing it.

I think I like this name and will stick with it.

Mousstitso

1/2 pound penne pasta cooked.

1 lb. ground beef browned and drained of fat.

1 medium to large eggplant sliced with the skin on in rounds

diced tomatoes - either fresh or canned

salt

pepper

nutmeg

Bechamel Sauce

Directions

1. boil pasta and drain. set aside.

2. brown the ground beef and drain. set aside.

3. slice eggplant and layer in a colader with salt and let sit, tossing occassionally until the eggplant softens. this will help remoe some of the bitter flavor.

4. dice tomatoes

5. In a large bowl mix the ground beef and tomatoes- season with salt, pepper, and a little bit of nutmeg.

6. in a large baking dish, spray with pam. Put one layer of eggplant down, and then the pasta. Add a layer of meat. Add another layer of eggplant, more meat.

7. Prepare sauce - you will need a triple recipe. Melt 6 T of butter on low. Add in 6 T of flour. Then add in 3 cups of warmed milk. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Simmer until just thick. Pour over the top of the casserole. You may want to take a spoon and shift ingredients a bit to ensure sauce goes all the way to the bottom.

8. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes.

DELICIOUS - we both raved about this meal for days!