{"id":4550,"date":"2011-02-08T09:54:05","date_gmt":"2011-02-08T15:54:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hottie-biscotti.com\/blog\/?p=4550"},"modified":"2011-02-08T09:54:05","modified_gmt":"2011-02-08T15:54:05","slug":"freezer-pastitsio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hottie-biscotti.com\/blog\/2011\/02\/08\/freezer-pastitsio\/","title":{"rendered":"Freezer Pastitsio"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I made this pasta dish<\/a> back in November to prepare for Carson’s arrival. \u00a0We had so many generous people bringing us meals for the first month, then we went home for Christmas, so I hadn’t had an opportunity to make one of my freezer meals until last month. \u00a0If I had really been thinking, and if I’d bought more small baking pans, I would have divided this recipe between 2 pans so that we wouldn’t be stuck eating this huge casserole all week! \u00a0This pastitsio recipe makes an incredible amount of food. \u00a0 I think it would feed at least 10 people. \u00a0Here is the link<\/a> to the recipe.<\/p>\n

I made some changes, some of which I wish I hadn’t. \u00a0Sometimes you can get away with taking liberties with a recipe, but sometimes you can’t. \u00a0It’s probably wise to make it the way it’s\u00a0supposed\u00a0to be made the first time. \u00a0Lesson learned.<\/p>\n

When I consider the ingredient list and the way my house smelled while making this dish, I would have expected this to be crazy good. \u00a0But Ben and I both found it to be missing something…it was a little bland. \u00a0I left out the red wine…mistake. \u00a0It would have added some nice flavor. \u00a0I skimped on the butter and milk in the pasta mixture, but that didn’t seem to make the pasta less flavorful or too dry. \u00a0Since my pan wasn’t big enough, I couldn’t add all of the bechamel sauce…maybe that was part of the problem? \u00a0I’d also use Kalamata olives next time.<\/p>\n

The pastitsio was good, just not the best. \u00a0I would try it again, making a half recipe and being more true to the original ingredients. \u00a0If you make a full pan and plan to freeze it, make sure to give the casserole at least a full 24 hours to thaw in the fridge. \u00a0Bake at 350 covered for about an hour, and uncovered for 30 minutes. \u00a0With a half recipe, I’d still use the long thaw time, and bake a little less. \u00a0More freezer meal updates to come!<\/p>\n