Googum's Pastichio My Way

Googums makes really good food and one of my favorites is Pastichio. I love the creamy top. She told me roughly how to make it. I added some special ingredients to make it a little more healthy (chard).

Pastichio
8 ounces ziti pasta, whole wheat or regular

Cream sauce
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup all purpose flour
5 cups milk (I use 1 %, higher milk fat will make it richer), cold is fine
1 egg
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Meat sauce
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup onion, chopped very fine
1 cup tightly packed chard or kale, trim away the rough stem (or 1 cup frozen or 3 cups fresh spinach)
12 ounces lean ground beef or bison
1 teaspoon dried oregano, crush it with fingers
Pinch of red pepper flakes or more if you like it really hot
5 cloves garlic, chopped fine or made into paste
4 ounces tomato sauce, this is half of a standard 8 ounce can

To make the meat sauce, chop the chard or kale as fine as possible in a food processor (I don't think chopping spinach is necessary).

Heat oil in a pan over medium heat and add the onion. Cook until the onion becomes soft and translucent. Add the chard and cook for another couple of minutes. Add the beef, oregano and red pepper flakes and cook until the beef is cooked. Add the garlic and when you start to smell it, add the tomato sauce. Cook for another 5 minutes over medium heat. Check for seasoning.

To make the cream sauce, add oil to a saucepan and heat it over medium heat. Add the flour and stir it until everything is smooth. Cook for a couple of minutes to cook out the raw taste of the flour. Slowly add the milk. Add about 1/2 cup and stir until smooth, then add another 1/2 cup and stir until smooth. Continue until all the milk is gone. Bring the sauce to a simmer. While it comes up to a simmer, stir it like every minute or so. Once it comes to a simmer, be sure to stir it constantly so that it does not burn. Let it simmer for 5 minutes and remove from the heat.

In a bowl, whisk the egg and add about 1/2 cup of bechamel to temper the egg. Slowly add the mixture back to the bechamel, followed by Parmesan cheese. Check for salt (the egg was cooked by the bechamel, so don't worry about raw egg).

Boil the pasta until it is just under al dente (you want it to be firm to bite). Drain well and set aside.

To assemble, get a baking dish (mine was 12x10 inches) and cover the bottom and sides with olive oil. Layer the pasta on the bottom and sprinkle it with meat sauce. Pour the cream sauce over and bake uncovered at 400 F for 30 minutes. Turn the oven off and leave it in the oven for another 10 minutes.

The pasta needs to cool at room temperature for an hour because of the cream sauce. It really firms up after a nice chill in the fridge. You can eat right out of the oven. It will fall apart, but that is fine with me.