Steak Pizzaola with The Works

Sometimes, in your quest to eat more healthy, you just have too many nights of lentil soup and too many lunches of chopped Greek salad, and just start asking yourself, where's the beef? How can I derail this healthy eating with one dish? I mean besides the brunch dish from the weekend? And the big Indian night? And? Ok, ok, no one likes a wise guy.

Answer: Steak Pizzaola!

I am not a huge fan of Rachel Ray, but I used to watch her during the dinner hour a number of years ago while I was dating a fellow who always seemed to need to have a TV on. All. The. Time. She did this recipe one night and all the yum glands were flowing.

Steak with a sauce that includes pepperoni, peppers, onion, garlic, tomatoes. Mmmmmmm.

I've done this with andouille instead of pepperoni, and increased the amount of peppers in it. I have sliced the steak after the browning and a proper rest and added the strips at the end instead of laying the steak in whole. It's truly hard to screw this one up.

The recipe makes a lot of sauce. I usually reserve a couple or three cups for pasta.

I served this with some good bread and a spinach, pear, strawberry and feta salad with balsamic dijon caper dressing.

Mangia!

Steak Pizzaola with The Works

Recipe adapted from Rachael Ray

1 16 to 18 oz. piece porterhouse or rib-eye steak

Salt and pepper

3 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil, 3 turns of the pan

4 cloves garlic, crushed away from the skins

1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

12 mushrooms, sliced

1 small onion, sliced

1 green bell pepper, seeded and sliced
1 red bell pepper, seeded and sliced

1 stick pepperoni, casing removed, then chopped

1/2 cup dry red wine, eyeball it

1 (28-oz) can crushed tomatoes

1 tsp dried oregano or 2 teaspoons chopped fresh oregano leaves

1/4 cup grated cheese, Parmigiano or Romano

Directions

Heat a large nonstick skillet over high heat. Season the steak with salt and pepper. Add 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil to the pan. Brown 3 minutes on each side and remove. Add another turn of the pan extra-virgin olive oil and reduce heat to medium high. Add garlic, pepper flakes, mushrooms, onions, peppers and pepperoni, if using. Cook mixture 5 to 8 minutes or until peppers and onions are slightly softened, then add wine and scrape up any good-bits from the bottom of the skillet. Add tomatoes, oregano, salt and pepper, to taste. Simmer for another 5 minutes. Slide steak back in and reduce heat to medium. Cover pan and cook 5 or 6 minutes for medium rare, 10 to 12 minutes for medium well. Remove meat, cut away from bone or divide into 2 large portions. Cover steak with sauce and top with grated cheese.

OK, I Could Go To The Gym, Do Laundry....But No, Screw It, I'm Making Brunch and Drinking

I was thinking, what should I have? Maybe bagels and smoked salmon? Maybe the ingredients of bagels and smoked salmon in a casserole? BINGO!!!

Serve fresh berries on the side and Cran-mimosas, with both cranberry and orange juices.

Mangia!

SMOKED SALMON AND POTATO BREAKFAST CASSEROLE

Courtesy: Epicurious 

2 cups (lightly packed) 1/2-inch cubes French baguette with crusts

2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 pound russet potatoes, peeled, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

1/2 cup finely chopped shallots

1/2 pound hot-smoked salmon fillets, skinned, flaked into bite-size pieces

3 tablespoons minced fresh chives

2 teaspoons minced fresh dill

1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese

4 large eggs

1 cup half and half

3 tablespoons sour cream

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Additional sour cream

Capers

Fresh dill sprigs

Preheat oven to 400°F. Arrange bread on rimmed baking sheet. Bake until pale golden, about 5 minutes, then cool.

Butter 11x7-inch glass baking dish. Melt 2 tablespoons butter with oil in heavy large skillet over medium-low heat. Add potatoes. Stir to coat and arrange in single layer. Cover and cook until potatoes are almost tender, about 8 minutes. Uncover; increase heat to medium-high, and cook until potatoes are lightly browned and tender, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Add shallots and sauté until soft, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Gently mix in bread, salmon, chives, minced dill and feta. Transfer mixture to prepared dish.

Whisk eggs and next 5 ingredients in medium bowl to blend well. Pour custard over potato mixture in dish. Let stand 15 minutes, occasionally pressing bread into custard. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover; chill. Let stand at room temperature 30 minutes before baking.)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Bake casserole, uncovered, until custard is set, about 30 minutes. Cut into squares and top with additional sour cream, capers, and dill sprigs; serve hot.

The Food Goddess That Is Madhur Jaffrey - Indian Food Night - Namaste!

Sometimes I just feel like putting on a whole Indian spread. A full Indian meal usually includes a pulse or dal (bean or lentil dish), rice, bread (naan, or even better garlic naan), raita (a marvelous yogurt dish), and pickles along with a main dish or two, with one frequently being vegetarian.

Pickles!

Indian food doesn't have to be burn-your-mouth-off spicy, but if you like hot food, the cuisine gives you many choices, all the better to offset with cooling raita. This menu features a pea dish that is savory, with chiles and cilantro but not too hot, an earthy spiced dal made with red lentils, rice, raita, a chicken dish, naan and pickles. I don't even try to make naan bread or pickles. There's too many good kinds to be had at my local Mediterranean market.

A chaunk or tarka is added at the end of cooking for many dal dishes and there are many variations for this fried flavor bomb. In Jaffrey's tarka for Tarka Massor Dal, it is thinly sliced scallions fried in ghee into which whole cumin seeds have been added. It's amazingly simple and so gloriously flavorful!

Dal, peas and raita

The tarka in the pea dish is the background taste of whole cumin and mustard seeds, with a lovely tomato cream sauce flavored with chiles, cilantro and garam masala.

The chicken dish tastes like the royalty of its name, but is surprisingly simple to make with very few chopping/slicing steps. Just remember to make the saffron cream ahead of time.

I use Ginger Cardamom Rice with most Indian meals, which is just any kind of rice you prefer, prepared according to rice instructions, only you add a tablespoon or so of finely minced fresh ginger and several whole cardamom pods in with the water. Just don't eat the cardamom pods. I keep count of how many I put in and pick them out after cooking. If that seems like too much effort, just throw in some ground cardamom, I'd say about 1 tsp for 2 cups of rice.

Royal Chicken Korma, rice and naan

There are a lot of things to do to put this meal together, so I do some things ahead of time. I make the peas and the raita one day ahead. I make the rice in a rice cooker so it frees up the stove for the main dish and the dal. Add naan and some pickles on the side and enjoy!

Mangia!



All recipes are adapted from Madhur Jaffrey, from Spice Kitchen, World Vegetarian and From Curries to Kebabs.

Royal Chicken Korma - Shahi Murgh Korma

1 tsp saffron threads

4 tbsp heavy cream, heated until hot.

5 - 6 tbsp corn, peanut or canola oil

12 cardamom pods

4 medium sticks of cinnamon

6 bay leaves

4 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast

2 medium onions sliced into very fine half rings

2 tbsp peeled and finely grated fresh ginger

8 cloves of garlic, crushed to a pulp with a little salt in a mortar and pestle or with the side of a knife

4 tbsp whole peeled almonds (I used slivered, blanched almonds)

4 tbsp golden raisins

2 tbsp ground coriander

1 tbsp ground cumin

1 cup of plain yogurt, lightly whisked until smooth

2 1/2 to 3 tsp salt

2 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp garam masala
Chopped cilantro for garnish

Using a bowl or cup soak the saffron threads in the hot cream for 2 to 3 hours stirring occasionally. The cream will form a skin, but don’t worry this will dissolve into the dish in the end. 

Pour the oil in a large heavy bottomed frying pan with a lid, over medium-high heat. When it is hot add the cardamom, cinnamon and bay leaves. Stir once or twice and add the chicken pieces in one layer. If they will not fit comfortably in one layer, do them in two batches. Brown the chicken on both sides and then remove to a plate of a bowl leaving behind the whole spices.

Add the onions to the pan and fry until reddish-brown.  Remove the whole spices (Jaffrey leaves them in until the end but I find it easier to fish them out at this stage. Plus the oil's pretty fragrant with them by now anyway.) and add the ginger, the garlic and stir for a minute. Add the almonds, raisins, coriander and cumin.

Stir until combined and then add the chicken and any accumulated juices back to the pan (I like to slice the chicken before adding it, reduce overall cooking time by a couple of minutes if you choose to do that).

Now add the yogurt, salt and cayenne pepper. Stir and return to a simmer.Cover with a lid leaving a crack open on the side and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes, Raise the heat to high and cook, stirring while the liquid boils away.You wish to end up with a thick sauce clinging to the meat.

Add the saffron cream, garam masala and 1/2 cup of water. Cover tightly and cook on low for 5 minutes.

Peas with Cumin and Mustard Seeds - Malaidar Matar

1/4 teaspoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon ground garam masala

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 tablespoon tomato paste

3/4 cup heavy cream

1 tablespoon lemon juice

2 tablespoons chopped green coriander (cilantro)

1 fresh long green hot chili or 1/3 jalapeño, finely chopped

4 cups shelled fresh peas or frozen, defrosted under warm water and drained

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds

1/2 teaspoon brown mustard seeds

Method:

Combine the sugar, ground cumin, garam masala, salt, cayenne pepper, and tomato paste. Slowly add 2 tablespoons water, mixing as you go. Add the cream slowly and mix. Put in the lemon juice, green coriander, and chili. Mix again and set aside.

If the peas are fresh, drop them into 4 cups of boiling water and cook until just barely done. Drain.

Heat the oil in the a large frying pan over medium-high heat. When hot, put in the cumin and mustard seeds. As soon as the mustard seeds begin to pop (this takes just a few seconds), add the peas. Stir and sauté for 30 seconds. Add the cream sauce. Cook over high heat for about 1 1/2 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened, stirring gently as you do so.

Red Lentils with Cumin and Scallion - Tarka Massor Dal

1 cup red lentils, picked over and washed  in several changes of water and drained
1/4 tsp turmeric
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp ghee
1 tsp whole cumin seeds
1 bunch scallions, cut into fine slivers all the way up the green section
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Put lentils and 4 cups of water in a heavy pot and bring to a boil. Add the turmeric and stir once. Watch at this stage because it tends to foam over and you get yellow turmeric foam all over the place. Partially cover, and turn heat to low, and simmer gently for  40 to 50 minutes. Add salt, set aside and keep warm.

Put the ghee in a frying pan and heat over medium high heat. When very hot, add the cumin seeds and let them sizzled for about 10 seconds. add the scallion slivers. Stir and fry until scallions start to turn brown at the edges. Take the pan off the heat and stir in the cayenne. Pour the contents into the lentils and stir to combine.

Cucumber and Mint Yogurt Raita

2 cups plain Greek Yogurt (I take regular yogurt and line a sieve with a couple paper towels, place it over a bowl, add the yogurt and let it drain for a few hours. This leaves the yogurt very thick without the cost of Greek yogurt. You want thick yogurt to start because the cuke will add a lot of moisture even with draining)
1 medium cucumber (Jaffery doesn't use this much, but I like the extra crunch)
1/2 cup chopped fresh mint
1 garlic clove, finely minced and mashed
2 tsp ground cumin
Salt to taste

Peel the cucumber and shred using a box grater. Line a sieve with a couple paper towels, place it over a bowl, transfer the grated cucumber to the sieve, and let it drain for about 30 minutes. Press the cucumber into the towels to try to squeeze out a good amount of the liquid. Mix together all the remaining ingredients and add the cucumber, stirring to combine.

Lightening Up a Sausage Pizza - A Mid-week Recipe - Sausage, Fennel and Ricotta Grilled Pizza

Ever since I stopped trying to master the cast iron skillet pizza method and figured out how to turn out a pretty decent one with a stove top grill pan (bonus: grill marks!), pizza has become a more common dinner entree around here. Of course, if you ate what comes from a pizza parlor a couple of times a month, you'd weigh 600 pounds. Unless you are a college student, in which case, your MyPlate is composed of equal parts pizza, ramen, instant mac and cheese and Red Bull, with a side of Pringles.

The trick is moderation with the toppings.

This recipe has nowhere near the calories of a delivery sausage pizza but doesn't stint on flavor. Fresh fennel complements the taste of the fennel seeds in Italian sausage, turkey sausage in this case, and even more fennel taste is introduced in the crushed seeds added at the end.

Fennel is a marvelous veggie. It can be used as an aromatic substitute for the carrots in mirepoix, sliced thin as a salad with lemon dressing and Italian parsley, and even sauteed in butter for a decadent side dish. I snack on raw fennel when it's around.

This is paired with an arugula and mushroom salad. I deviated from Cooking Light's recipe to saute the mushrooms.

Mangia!

Ready for the oven

Sausage, Fennel and Ricotta Pizza
Adapted from Cooking Light

Ingredients

16 ounces refrigerated fresh pizza dough

1/2 pound link Italian turkey sausage

1 cup thinly sliced fennel bulb

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

2/3 cup part-skim ricotta

2 tsp minced fresh garlic

1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion

2 tsp fennel seeds, crushed in a mortar

1/2 tsp crushed red pepper

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/4 cup  shredded Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1 tbsp fennel fronds, chopped

Preheat oven to 450° Let pizza dough stand at room temperature, covered, while oven preheats.

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Remove casing from sausage. Add sausage to pan; cook 4 minutes or until lightly browned, stirring to crumble. Add fennel bulb; cook 4 minutes or until tender.

While sausage cooks, preheat a stovetop grill pan over high heat. Take the pizza dough, divide in half and form each half into a ball. With floured board and rolling pin, roll out one half and with floured hands, begin to gently pull the pizza in the air until you form a rectangular shape sized a little less than the diameter of the grill pan. Invert a large bowl and dust it with flour. Lay the prepared half across the bowl. This helps keep the dough stretched and from retracting. Repeat with the other half.

Give the grill pan a spray of oil and lay the dough on the pan. After about 2 to 3 minutes, turn it over and repeat timing until the dough is about 80% cooked and has gorgeous grill marks. It will puff up quite a bit during cooking. Lay the pizza on a cookie sheet.

Brush dough evenly with oil. Sprinkle sausage mixture evenly over dough, leaving a 1-inch border. Combine ricotta and garlic in a small bowl; top pizza with teaspoonfuls of ricotta mixture. Sprinkle red onion and remaining ingredients evenly over pizza, ending with fennel fronds for color. Bake at 450° for 7 minutes or until golden. 

Arugula Salad with Sauteed Wild Mushrooms and Lemon Vinaigrette

Adapted from Cooking Light

1 tbsp white wine vinegar

1 tbsp fresh lemon juice 

3 tsp extra-virgin olive oil, separated

1/2 tsp kosher salt 

1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper 
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper

1 1/4 cup roughly chopped wild mushrooms

6 ounces baby arugula

1 tbsp shredded Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Preparation

Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a saute pan over medium heat. Add the mushrooms, 1/2 tsp salt and crushed red pepper, and saute for 4 to 5 minutes or until soft. Set aside.

Combine vinegar, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk. Add mushrooms and arugula; toss gently to coat. Top with shredded Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.

Slow Cooker Corned Beef - Because That's How Those Irish Peasants Did It

Right...those Irish peasants that didn't have anything but potatoes to eat until they all rotted. They were then like Maria in My Big Fat Greek Wedding, who had no food as a child. If they produced any beef at all, they probably sold it to pay the rent to those damned Orangemen. The cost of meat in the 18th and 19th century would have been prohibitive to many Irish. Meat had been preserved in various forms for centuries, either with salt or smoke and Ireland did produce quite a lot of the precursor to corned beef as we know it today. But immigrants began to be able to afford it in America (from Wikipedia): 

Some say it was not until the wave of 18th century Irish immigration to the United States that much of the ethnic Irish first began to consume corned beef dishes as seen today. The popularity of corned beef compared to bacon among the immigrant Irish may have been due to corned beef being considered a luxury product in their native land, while it was cheaply and readily available in America.

In Ireland today, the serving of corned beef is geared toward tourist consumption and most Irish in Ireland do not identify the ingredient as native cuisine.

That's right. It's far from traditional. It's Pseudo-Irish. But it sure is good! And this recipe comes with one for Mustard Sauce, in honor of Colonel Mustard.

And when you make Reubens with the leftovers, be sure to use Bubbie's sauerkraut. Erin go braless!

Mangia!

Corned Beef in the Slow Cooker with Mustard Sauce

Adapted from Wonkette's Recipe Hub

1 corned beef brisket from your grocer’s meat section, big enough to feed your party

Enough carrots (washed), onions (peeled), and potatoes (washed) for your party (I use red, and halve them)

Water (or you could use beer)

Put the corned beef into your crockpot, with all the juices from the package. Be sure to open and empty the little spice packet that may be in there; the flavors don’t quite come out the same when you leave them in the baggie. (If your corned beef didn’t come with a spice packet, sprinkle in a few tablespoons of pickling spice.)

Layer the vegetables on top of the meat.

Add enough water to cover the meat, plus about an inch.

Cook on “Low” for 9-10 hours. Remove the meat from the pot; let it rest a few minutes. While meat is resting, cut a head of cabbage into quarters, or sixths, or eighths. Put the cabbage in the slow cooker; turn up to high and cook for 15-20 minutes. Slice meat thinly, across the grain of the meat. Serve with vegetables and Mustard Sauce.

Mustard Sauce

2 eggs

1 tablespoon butter, melted

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup white sugar

1/4 cup prepared mustard (the plain old yellow kind is ideal, but if all you’ve got is dijon, you are insufferable)
1 tbsp prepared horseradish

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

 Whisk everything together to combine.

Cook over the lower side of medium heat; stirring constantly. CONSTANTLY MEANS DO NOT STOP UNTIL THE SAUCE IS DONE. (If you don't stir constantly, you'll wind up with scrambled eggs in your mustard sauce)

The sauce is done when it is so thick that it coats the back of a spoon and doesn’t run back together when you swipe your finger across the spoon.

Read more at http://wonkette.com/571128/heres-your-mmmm-delicious-mustard-sauce-for-super-easy-crockpot-corned-beef#svEs12WKj8AqAt09.99

Winner, Winner, Another One-Pan Dinner! Spicy Pork with Parsnips and Sweet Potatoes

Don't hate us because we're beautiful.

Oh, the under-rated parsnip. They're the funny white things that look like carrots. They seem to scare a lot of people, and this is sad. They are delicious, with a earthy sweetness that is brought to life beautifully when they are roasted and served with horseradish cream or sauteed paired with pancetta and peas. You can mash them alone or with potatoes. You can puree them with carrots. Toss them with pasta. They should be a part of every batch of roasted root vegetables you prepare.

If Bubba had lived through Vietnam, he'd stop going on about shrimp all the time and make some room for parsnips.

There's sauteed parsnips, roasted parsnips, parsnips and pasta,
parsnip curry, fried parsnips, parsnip soup, mashed parsnips,
parsnip kebabs, parsnip custard, parsnip pancakes, grilled
parsnips. parsnips Creole, parsnip bread pudding....

In this rendition, they are combined with sweet potatoes and shallots and roasted along with pork tenderloin in a sweet, spicy and savory blend of seasoning. It's very simple and fairly quick (except the watercress takes a little time and patience to pull the leaves off the stems), but it looks like you spent hours on it.

I serve this with Ginger Cardamom Rice, which is just any kind of rice you prefer, prepared according to rice instructions, only you add a tablespoon or so of finely minced fresh ginger and several whole cardamom pods in with the water. Just don't eat the cardamom pods. I keep count of how many I put in and pick them out after cooking. If that seems like too much effort after all that watercress stemming, just throw in some ground cardamom, I'd say about 1 tsp for 2 cups of rice.

Mangia!

Spicy Pork with Parsnips and Sweet Potatoes 

Adapted from Yahoo

1 large sweet potato, peeled, halved, and sliced 1/2 inch thick

3 large parsnips, peeled, halved, and cut into 2-inch pieces

3 large shallots, peeled and cut into wedges

1 ½ tbsp finely grated peeled fresh ginger

3 tbsp olive oil, divided, plus more for serving

2 tbsp Tamari, divided
1 tbsp sriracha, or to taste

2 tbsp light-brown sugar

1 tsp cayenne pepper, divided , or to taste

1 pork tenderloin (about 1 1/2 pound), excess fat and silver skin removed

Coarse salt, pepper

1 bunch watercress, trimmed

Dressing:
1tbsp sriracha
1tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 tbsp Tamari

Preheat oven to 475 degrees. On a rimmed baking sheet, toss sweet potato, parsnips, shallots, ginger, 2 tbsp oil, 1 tbsp Tamari and 1/2 tsp cayenne and spread in an even layer. Mix together brown sugar, remaining oil, Tamari, cayenne and sriracha and rub all over pork; add to sheet. Season pork and vegetables with salt and pepper and roast until an instant-read thermometer inserted in center of pork reads 145 degrees, 30 to 32 minutes. About halfway through cooking, give the vegetables a stir. Remove pork and let rest 10 minutes before serving.

Mix dressing ingredients together. Toss vegetables with watercress, drizzle with dressing, and season. Thinly slice pork and serve with any accumulated juices from sheet and the salad.

It's Moussaka. Moose Ka-Ka? My Big Fat Greek Dinner - Morrocan-spiced Pastitsio With Lamb and Feta

Put some Windex! There you go.

I love, love, love My Big Fat Greek Wedding, and have always regretted that Nia Vardalos didn't seem to be able to pull off another comic masterpiece. But she is only 52. There's oodles of time. Fifty is the new 40!!

I read recently that the movie is the highest grossing Romcom of all time. Impressive, but in my opinion, a "word" like "Romcom" should never have been allowed in the Urban Dictionary of Life. It's right down there with "bromance".

By the way, Windex was needed in the making of this dish. In my tiny, cramped kitchen, the cast iron pan stays in the oven, but is removed when something else has to go in. I sit it aside and sometimes on the floor, as in during the preparation of this dish. In this event, managed to turn around near the open fridge door and slammed ankle bone into handle. With all respect to Gus, Windex does NOT help this kind of injury.

OK, both dishes (Moussaka and Pastitsio) kind of resemble either lasagna or Shepard's Pie, but they are different, and equally delicious. This is comfort food with a complex and irresistible blend of spices. It smells yummy cooking and baking, looks brown and creamy coming out of the oven and tastes even better the next day.

This man is not eating my pastitsio. Ever.

I served this with a cucumber and tomato salad and warm pita bread triangles, the softer, plumper, fluffier ones that are almost like naan or the Arabic bread from the Mediterranean market I love. Ouzo optional.

Opa! I mean, Mangia!

Out of the oven

MOROCCAN-SPICED PASTITSIO WITH LAMB AND FETA

BY ROZANNE GOLD BON APPÉTIT MARCH 2011

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 1/4 cups chopped red onion

2 large garlic cloves, chopped

1 pound ground lamb

1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes in juice

2 tablespoons chopped mint

1 1/2 tablespoons ras-el-hanout (if you can't find it in a specialty store, see recipe below)

1 tablespoon tomato paste

3 teaspoons ground cumin, divided

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3 cups whole milk, divided

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, divided

6 tablespoons all purpose flour

3 large eggs, separated

6 ounces feta cheese, crumbled

1 pound penne rigate

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, divided

PREPARATION

Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic; sauté until onion softens, about 5 minutes. Add lamb; cook until brown, breaking into small pieces, about 8 minutes. Stir in tomatoes with juice, mint, ras-el-hanout, tomato paste, 2 1/2 teaspoons cumin, and cinnamon. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer until lamb mixture is thick, stirring often, 15 to 18 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, bring 2 cups milk to simmer in medium saucepan. Remove from heat; cover to keep warm. Melt 6 tablespoons butter in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add flour; whisk until smooth. Reduce heat to medium-low; cook until roux is pale golden, whisking often, 3 to 4 minutes. Gradually add warm milk to roux, whisking until sauce is smooth. Whisk 1 cup milk and 3 egg yolks in medium bowl; whisk into sauce. Whisk in feta and 1/2 teaspoon cumin. Bring sauce to boil, whisking often. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer until slightly thickened, mashing with potato masher to break up cheese, about 5 minutes. Season sauce with salt and pepper. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover; chill. Rewarm over low heat, whisking often, before using.

Preheat oven to 400°F. Butter deep 14-cup baking dish. Cook pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until tender but still firm to bite, stirring occasionally. Drain pasta; return to same pot. Mix 2 tablespoons butter into pasta. Add egg whites and 1/4 cup Parmesan; stir to blend.

Spread 4 cups pasta in dish. Spread lamb mixture over. Top with remaining pasta. Spoon sauce over; sprinkle with 1/4 cup Parmesan. Place dish on rimmed baking sheet. Bake pastitsio until heated through, about 40 minutes. Let stand 5 to 10 minutes.

Ras-el-hanout

1 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3/4 teaspoon ground coriander seeds

3/4 teaspoon cayenne

3/4 teaspoon ground allspice

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

PREPARATION

In a small bowl whisk together all ingredients until combined well. Spice blend keeps in an airtight container at cool room temperature 1 month.

CUCUMBER, TOMATO AND RED ONION SALAD WITH MINT, PARSLEY, FETA AND OLIVE

1/2 large cucumber, peeled, sliced in half lengthwise and thinly sliced
1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes, sliced
1/4 red onion, thinly sliced
1 tbsp. chopped mint
1 tbsp. chopped Italian parsley
2 tbsp. crumbled feta cheese
8 or 10 Kalamata olives, sliced
2 tbsp. red wine vinegar
1 tbsp. olive oil
S&P

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and toss.