Had Venezuala Lasagne Yesterday.

Don't know how it is made but it was delicious. The noodles are much thinner and the cheeses is more Mexican style than Italian. I did not recognize the seasoning but I will try to find a recipe and experiment with it to try to duplicate it. There was no trace of tomato either.

rhinefire said:

Don't know how it is made but it was delicious. The noodles are much thinner and the cheeses is more Mexican style than Italian. I did not recognize the seasoning but I will try to find a recipe and experiment with it to try to duplicate it. There was no trace of tomato either.

Click to expand...

Interesting. I will look it up.

rhinefire said:

Don't know how it is made but it was delicious. The noodles are much thinner and the cheeses is more Mexican style than Italian. I did not recognize the seasoning but I will try to find a recipe and experiment with it to try to duplicate it. There was no trace of tomato either.

Click to expand...

Got me curious. Here's one of several recipes.

Pasticho (Venezuelan Lasagna) Recipe | Taste of Home

This recipe (and the several others I found) has both chopped tomatoes and tomato paste in it, but it's finished with a bachemal sauce (white) that features heavy cream and cheese-cheese-and more cheese. Maybe the white creamy mushroom sauce disguised the tomatoes?

I may try this. It actually sounds delicious. I will be cutting this recipe, though. It serves twenty.

rhinefire said:

Don't know how it is made but it was delicious. The noodles are much thinner and the cheeses is more Mexican style than Italian. I did not recognize the seasoning but I will try to find a recipe and experiment with it to try to duplicate it. There was no trace of tomato either.

Click to expand...

I remember in school they'd try passing off regular lasagne topped with sour cream as "Mexican Lasange." This sounds so much better.

rhinefire said:

Don't know how it is made but it was delicious. The noodles are much thinner and the cheeses is more Mexican style than Italian. I did not recognize the seasoning but I will try to find a recipe and experiment with it to try to duplicate it. There was no trace of tomato either.

Click to expand...

MaggieD said:

Got me curious. Here's one of several recipes.

Pasticho (Venezuelan Lasagna) Recipe | Taste of Home

This recipe (and the several others I found) has both chopped tomatoes and tomato paste in it, but it's finished with a bachemal sauce (white) that features heavy cream and cheese-cheese-and more cheese. Maybe the white creamy mushroom sauce disguised the tomatoes?

I may try this. It actually sounds delicious. I will be cutting this recipe, though. It serves twenty.

Click to expand...

The dish you're both describing is a very common item in Greek-American restaurants where it's called & spelled 'Pastitsio', and as mentioned is usually topped with Béchamel (then baked).

It differs from Italian Lasagna in that it has small pasta noodles throughout (ziti or penne), rather than the layers of long wide lasagna pasta we see in the Italian dish.

And as has also been mentioned, the Greek dish usually doesn't have tomato and it's flavor is a bit different - having more of a 'hard-aged-cheese' flavor, rather than the fresh-cheese (ricotta) flavor of its Italian counterpart.

I eat Greek food often, and we have pastitsio (or its 'moussaka' cousin) maybe once a month or so - we all love it!

[the other Greek variant known as 'moussaka' is similar, but omits the pasta and adds eggplant instead, and it's also delicious]

This was in a very small restaurant and the owner said it is made by his mother per her recipe. He said she is going to next make a eggplant lasagna. I'll guess it is close to what my mom made. She called it "eggplant parmesan". I still make it today it is quick and easy.
Remove the peel.
Lay the eggplant on it side and cut slices about 1/4 inch thick.
Sprinkle salt on the individual slices and let set for a half hour or so until they bleed juice. Rinse the patty's and pat dry. This is critical because if you don't the eggplant will not taste good. An alternative this is to lightly fry the slices in olive oil but the slices absorb nearly all of the oil so use very little and medium heat fry them only until lightly browned. I only brush them with oil when I choose to fry them.
Place one layer of the slices in a flat casserole dish and pour some spaghetti sauce (one tablespoon is enough per patty) on each patty then top with mozzarella cheese and repeat this until you have three or four layers much like lasagna.
Cover and bake at 350 for an hour.
This dish is actually better the next day after refrigeration.
The difference here is most restaurants batter the eggplant and only stack it two high. I don't batter because it does not help the flavor much like battering anything.