Pastitsio

The recipe for "Pastitsio" (page 226) is so-called because it is a pastiche of several ingredients combined into one final dish. Most of the recipes in this cookbook are reasonably quick and easy to put together, but if you are in a lazy mood and wish for a dish with more drawn out preparation, this one will be fun for you. It involves a food processor (chopping the garbanzo beans), precooking pasta, sautéing veggies, creating a white sauce, and layering the different components into a casserole dish, in the manner of lasagna. The recipe calls for frozen spinach, and that did save a little time, but I think I would have preferred using fresh for the superior flavor it imparts. The final layer is chopped pine nuts (I left them whole, they are already so tiny and soft I can never see the point in chopping them) before the casserole is baked in the oven. This will feed two people over several meals, or think about taking it to a potluck. Good hearty fare.