Pastitsio
 | |
| Course | Main |
|---|---|
| Place of origin | Greece |
| Region or state | Ionian Islands |
| Main ingredients | Ground beef, béchamel sauce |
Pastitsio (Greek: παστίτσιο, pastítsio) is a baked pasta dish with ground meat and béchamel sauce from the Ionian Islands[citation needed] in Greece. Variations of the dish are found in other countries near the Mediterranean.
Name and origin
[edit]
Pastitsio takes its name from the Venetian pasticcio, a large family of baked savory pies that may be based on meat, fish, or pasta, with many documented recipes from the early 16th century,[1] and continuing to modern times. Italian versions include a pastry crust; some include béchamel.[2][3][4][5][6][7][8]
The word pasticcio is attested by the 16th century as "any manner of pastie or pye"[9] and comes from the vulgar Latin word pastīcium[10] derived from pasta, and means "pie", and has developed the figurative meanings of "a mess", "a tough situation", or a pastiche.[11]
The name of an Italian version, lasagna, made with flat pasta, comes from Latin lasanum, "cooking pot".
Greece
[edit]
Nikolaos Tselementes, a French-trained Greek chef of the early 20th century, created the au gratin[12] version with béchamel. Tselementes' published version is now ubiquitous.[12] It has a bottom layer of bucatini or other tubular pasta, with cheese or egg as a binder and a middle layer of ground beef (or a mix of ground beef and ground pork) with tomato sauce, cinnamon and cloves. The top layer is a béchamel or a Mornay sauce, with spices like nutmeg or allspice. Grated cheese is often sprinkled on top. Pastitsio is a common dish, and is often served as a main course, with a salad.[citation needed] Other versions, with fillings of pasta, liver, meat, eggs, and cheese (similar to most Italian pasticcio recipes), which were wrapped in pastry, are not found in modern Greek cuisine.
Egypt
[edit]The Egyptian version is called مكرونة بالبشاميل macarona bil-bechamel in Egyptian Arabic, i.e. "macaroni with béchamel". The dish is typically made with penne or macaroni pasta, a minced-meat sauce with tomato and onion, and a white sauce often enriched with Rumi cheese. Egg or cheese (cheddar and mozzarella)[dubious – discuss] may also be baked on top. The dish was introduced to Egypt by Greek and Italian immigrants in the 19th century.[13]
Malta
[edit]In Malta, timpana (the name probably derived from timballo) is made by tossing parboiled macaroni in a tomato sauce containing a small amount of minced beef or corned beef, bound with a mixture of raw egg and grated cheese. Hard-boiled eggs are sometimes added. The macaroni is then enclosed in a pastry case or lid before being baked.[14][15] A similar dish without the pastry casing is imqarrun.[citation needed]
See also
[edit]
References
[edit]- ↑ Bartolomeo Scappi, Opera, 1570, passim: 43 recipes
- ↑ Accademia Italiana della Cucina, La Cucina: The Regional Cooking of Italy, pp. 310–313
- ↑ Pellegrino Artusi, La scienza in cucina e l'arte di mangiar bene, 1983 reprint, first edition 1891: 10 recipes
- ↑ Vincenzo Buonassisi, Piccolo Codice della Pasta, Rizzoli 1973: 11 recipes
- ↑ Vincenzo Buonassisi, Il Nuovo Codice della Pasta, Rizzoli 1985 ISBN 8817110388: 41 recipes
- ↑ Touring Club Italiano, Guida all'Italia Gastronomica, 1931: 2 recipes; 1984 edition: 3 recipes
- ↑ Luigi Carnacina, Luigi Veronelli, La cucina rustica regionale = La buona vera cucina italiana, Rizzoli, 1966: 3 recipes
- ↑ Στοΐλη, Μελίσσα (September 25, 2012). "Το αυθεντικό παστίτσιο". Το Βήμα (To Vima) (in Greek). Athens. Retrieved November 13, 2020.
- ↑ John Florio, A Worlde of Wordes: Or Most copious and exact Dictionarie in Italian and English, London, 1598 p. 261
- ↑ "Pasticcio". Vocabolario della lingua italiana. Treccani. Retrieved 5 March 2014.
- ↑ Oxford Paravia Italian Dictionary, 2001, ISBN 0-19-860437-8
- 1 2 Aglaia Kremezi, "Nikolas Tselementes", Cooks and Other People, Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery, p. 168
- ↑ McWilliams, Mark (7 May 2016). Food and Communication: Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery 2015. Oxford Symposium. ISBN 9781909248496 – via Google Books.
- ↑ Sheehan, Sean (2000). Malta. Marshall Cavendish. p. 120. ISBN 9780761409939 – via Google Books.
- ↑ "Maltese Timpana". SBS Food. 19 August 2013. Retrieved 2019-10-29.
Sources
[edit]- Babiniotis, Georgios (2005). Λεξικό της Νέας Ελληνικής Γλώσσας. Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας.
