Globe-cooking recipe : Bastichio (Greece)

Bastichio is a Greek dish that is basically a cross between lasagne and pasta bake. With rich tomato sauce, creamy cheese sauce and filling pasta, it's bound to be a family crowd-pleaser.

But once it's served, it won't look pretty so it's not one to pick for a dinner party when you want to impress your guests ! I used a Hairy Bikers recipe for inspiration (from their Mum Knows Best cookbook) which used pork mince, so I used half beef mince and half pork sausagemeat because it's what was in the freezer. The original recipe didn't have all the veggies in it but I think they worked really well.

Bastichio

 ingredients :

1 pack beef mince

1 pack pork sausagemeat

2 onions

2 cloves garlic

1/2 red pepper

1/2 green pepper

3 mushrooms

2 carrots

2 tins chopped tomatoes

1tbsp tomato puree

oregano, garlic pepper, smoked paprika

300g pasta, cooked

2 packs of cheese sauce & 1 pint milk (or make your own from scratch if you have time !)

grated cheese

Gently fry the onions and garlic.

Add the mince and sausagemeat and fry until cooked through. Drain off excess fat.

Meanwhile chop up all the vegetables.

Add the vegetables, tinned tomatoes, tomato puree and herbs/spices to the sauce, stir and leave to simmer for 1/2 an hour. Taste and add salt if necessary.

Put your pasta on to cook, if you haven't got leftover cooked pasta lurking in the fridge. Prepare your cheese sauce - as I was short on time, I went for the shop-bought variety but it's dead easy to make from scratch too.

Drain the pasta and pour into an ovenproof dish. Spoon over a ladleful of cheese sauce and mix to combine.

Pour the meat sauce over the top - I need a bigger dish !

Spoon the rest of the cheese sauce over the top and sprinkle with grated cheese. Pop in the oven at 200° for about 15 minutes until the cheese has melted and gone golden and bubbly. This can also be made ahead and kept in the fridge until needed, in which case you should leave it in the oven for about 45 minutes, for the meat to reheat thoroughly.

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