Pastitsio (Oamc)

Ingredients

• Meat sauce
• enough olive oil, to just coat the bottom of a large pot
• 2 large onions, finely chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 lbs lean ground meat (I often use a combo of beef and pork, lamb would be good too, but go heavier on the beef)
• 2 (16 ounce) cans diced tomatoes with juice (concasse)
• 1/3 cup chopped pitted kalamata olive (optional)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 1 cinnamon stick, broken in two
• Pasta
• 1 lb penne or 1 lb rigatoni pasta
• 3 tablespoons melted butter
• 2 cups whole milk
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 1/2 cup romano cheese or 1/2 cup parmesan cheese
• Bechamel Sauce
• 6 tablespoons butter
• 1/3 cup flour
• 4 cups milk
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 1/2 lb romano cheese or 1/2 lb parmesan cheese, divided