Serves: 12 as a first course; 6-8 as a main course Cooking time: 1-1/2 hours Oven temperature: 180 C (350 F)

Cook macaroni in boiling, salted water until just tender. Drain and return to pan.

Melt butter until golden brown and pour over macaroni. Add 1/2 cup of the cheese, the nutmeg, salt and pepper to taste and toss well. Leave until cool, add eggs and toss again. Keep aside.

Make meat sauce. Gently fry onion and garlic in butter until onion is soft, increase heat and add ground beef. Stir well and cook until meat begins to brown. Add remaining meat sauce ingredients, cover and simmer over gentle heat for 20 minutes.

Make cream sauce. Melt butter in a saucepan, stir in flour and cook gently for 2 minutes. Add milk all at once and bring to the boil, stirring constantly. Boil gently for 1 minute. Add nutmeg, salt and pepper to taste and cool a little before stirring in beaten egg. Add 1/2 cup of this sauce to the cooked meat sauce.

To assemble Pastitso, butter a 33 x 23 x 8 cm (13 x 9 x 3 inch) oven dish. Spoon half of the prepared macaroni evenly in the base and top with the meat sauce. Cover with remaining macaroni, levelling top.

Pour on cream sauce and spread to completely cover macaroni. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top and cook in a moderate oven for 50 minutes until golden brown. Let stand for 10 minutes before cutting into squares to serve.