Nona'S Corfiot Pastitsio
Nona's Pastitsio is not the familiar Greek layered macaroni, minced meat and béchamel dish. The Corfiot speciality is an older, celebratory preparation in which pasta and a rich mixture of meats are enclosed in pastry or phyllo, reflecting the island's Venetian culinary heritage.
A distinctive Corfiot take on pastitsio, traditionally combining macaroni and meats inside a pastry or filo-style casing.
Prep Time
45 minutes
Cooking Time
1 hour
Serves
8
Difficulty
Advanced
Dietary Tags
Meat, Contains Gluten, Contains Egg, Contains Dairy
true
Ingredients
- 500 g thick macaroni, cooked just until al dente
- 400 g cooked beef or veal, finely chopped
- 250 g cooked chicken, finely chopped
- 150 g cooked ham or pancetta, finely chopped
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 2 tbsp tomato purée
- 100 ml red wine
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- Pinch of ground cloves
- Pinch of nutmeg
- 100 g grated kefalotyri or Parmesan-style hard cheese
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 8-10 sheets filo pastry
- 75 g melted butter or olive oil, for brushing
- Salt and black pepper
Method
- Cook the macaroni until just al dente, drain and cool slightly.
- Heat the olive oil and soften the onion. Add the chopped meats, tomato purée, wine and spices and cook until the mixture is rich but not wet. Cool.
- Combine the pasta with the meat mixture, grated cheese and beaten eggs. Season carefully.
- Brush a deep baking dish with butter or oil. Layer in enough filo to line the base and sides, brushing between sheets and leaving overhang.
- Pack in the pasta and meat filling, pressing gently so there are no large gaps.
- Fold the overhanging filo over the top and add additional buttered sheets to seal the pie.
- Bake at 180°C, 160°C fan, for about 45-55 minutes until deeply golden and crisp.
- Rest for at least 15 minutes before cutting into substantial wedges.
Recipe Tips
- This Corfiot dish exists in historical and family variations, so the exact combination of meats can differ.
- Keep the filling relatively dry or the pastry will become soggy.
- Do not confuse it with mainstream Greek pastitsio. The pastry casing is central to the Corfiot identity described by official Greek tourism sources.
What to Serve With
Serve in modest wedges with a sharp green salad or seasonal vegetables. It is a rich celebration dish and needs little accompaniment.
Where to Try It in Corfu
Nona's Corfiot Pastitsio is considerably harder to find than pastitsada or sofrito and should not be expected on every traditional menu. We have not yet identified a current restaurant serving a version that we can confidently match to this historic Corfiot preparation, so we would rather not recommend one until we can verify it.
Recipe Story / Corfu Connection
Official Greek tourism material identifies Nona's Pastitsio as a distinctive Corfiot speciality: a different form of pastitsio in which pasta is wrapped in phyllo. Historical Corfiot cuisine contains several elaborate pasta-and-meat preparations reflecting Venetian influence and special-occasion cooking. Reliable public sources are less consistent about the precise filling, so the recipe presented here remains a reconstructed home version pending further local validation.