Just made some Moussaka

[deltadoc]

Sunday, I had to use up some eggplants that had been in the fridge almost too long. Moussaka came to mind, but I hadn't been extremely successful lately when I made Moussaka. Somewhere along the line I lost my touch.

So this time, I fried some Idaho potatoes on the griddle sliced thin, longways.

Oiled this big All-Clad roasting pan and lined the bottom with the browned potato slices.

I also fried some onions in EVOO (I like the fragrance of EVOO, so I use it for everything!). Added about 2 1/2 lbs of ground chuck. Added a can of diced Hunt's tomatoes (instead of the usual 6 oz can of tomato paste), added about 1 cup of leftover Merlot from Sat. nite, simmered it with S&P, ground allspice and ground cinnamon until most of the juices were evaporated. Tasted tested it, and had to put the spoon down quickly or I'd have eaten all the meat mixture up!

Grilled sliced longways the 3 eggplants, until soft and browned and layered that over the meat mixture which went over the potatoes in the roasting pan.

Now, I clarify a LOT of unsalted butter at a time, and skim the top as best I can and then put it in 8 Cup Pyrex cups with lid in the fridge overnight. Then in the morning, I can remove the big solid chunk of clarified butter, and scrape off the wet milky stuff on its bottom, leaving the rest of the milky stuff in the pyrex cup.

Gotten pretty good at chopping the big block of clarified butter into 250 g portions which I then use the Foodsaver to vacuum pack and label.

So, I took one of those pre-made 250g packets and melted it in a big pot, and added exactly 250g of bread flour. Stirred like crazy and added S&P and freshly grated nutmeg. Tons of it! Then I started pouring in milk right out of the bottle, and unlike other times, I left the roux pretty thick, although still stirable. I think this was the trick I'd forgotten. Don't make the bechamel too liquidy!

Whipped 3 whole eggs ( i used to use just the yolks) and folded some of the bechamel into the dish with the eggs. Stirred that good and dumped it all into the bechamel and stirred until well incorporated.

Then I added about 1+ Cup of freshly grated 4 cheese (mostly Parmigiano Reggiano), and stirred again. Added more S&P and more grated nutmeg. OVer into the dish it went and into a preheated 350 F oven for about 1 1/2 hour. The bechamel rose somewhat like a lasagna would, browned nicely, and gave off such an enticing smell!

We removed and let sit for 30 minutes, and then cut it up and put into plastic dishes for lunches. Didn't even sample it until Monday at work.

WoW!@!@!@! Best moussaka I ever ate, let alone made myself.

Gonna do it again this weekend! But first, gotta go get more red wine so there hopefully will be something left over to use in the moussaka!

doc

[Mezzaluna]

That sounds delicious, Doc! You'll have enough moussaka for many lunches to come, from the sound of it.

[Mapiva]

Moussaka is my all time favorite dish. If I could make a couple of suggestions that I've found worked over the past years.

- if I want to make it lighter I use only half the amount of eggplant and substitute zucchini for the rest.
- again to make it lighter I don't sautee the veggies, I grill them in the oven with a light brush of olive oil.
- I leave the potato raw so that it can actually absorb the excess oil that pools on the bottom
- try sprinkling a layer of parmesan cheese and seasoned breadcrumbs ontop of the bechamel, it creates a wonderful crust on top.
- can also be made with poached artichokes instead of eggplant.
-in the meat sauce try putting a couple of cloves, gives a great flavor.

You just made me hungry for some!

[food-macro]

That sounds absolutly delicious i might try that this weekend all those ingredients are available to me thanks for sharing!

[deltadoc]

Originally Posted by Mapiva

Moussaka is my all time favorite dish. If I could make a couple of suggestions that I've found worked over the past years.

-in the meat sauce try putting a couple of cloves, gives a great flavor.

Thanks for the suggestions. I fry the potatoes because this is how my Greek friends taught me to make their highly successful restaurant Moussaka at "It's Greek To Me" in Minneapolis.

I'm imagining that the addition of cloves would be better as a substitute idea for using allspice. I find the two spices almost interchangeable when running out of one or the other.

doc

[deltadoc]

Originally Posted by Mezzaluna

That sounds delicious, Doc! You'll have enough moussaka for many lunches to come, from the sound of it.

Unfortunately, it doesn't go as far as I would like, especially when it comes out as good as this one did. I find myself rushing home after work and putting tomorrow's lunch in the microwave for dinner tonite!

Fortunately, we're sorting through our basement freezer as I just got done cutting up 6 Natureland organic beef tenderloins and food saving the filet mignons I made up out of them.

In the process I rediscovered some 1-cup servings of last summer's Pesto and some bags of Penne that we freeze into 2-serving pouches. (I cook up 12 lbs of penne at a time from Sam's club).

SO we had pesto last night so's I still have some moussake for lunch today!

I'm glad summer is here because the 60 qts of Marinara sauce I made last summer is almost gone! How could i have used up nearly 55 Qts of Marinara sauce? Let me count the ways:

1. Marinara sauce makes great pizza sauce
2. Marinara sauce makes great penne with sausage
3. Marinara sauce is great as a V-8 meal in itself
4. Marinara sauce is a staple for Penne a Matriciano.
5. Marinara sauce goes great for lasagna sauce (I used to try to have 4-5 specialty Italian sauces until I conjured up this Marinara sauce which I invented in order to duplicate the Penne a Matriciano that I had in Puerto Rico in 2005!)

Well, you know how it goes! (Pun intended!)

doc

[Mapiva]

Originally Posted by deltadoc

Thanks for the suggestions. I fry the potatoes because this is how my Greek friends taught me to make their highly successful restaurant Moussaka at "It's Greek To Me" in Minneapolis.

I'm imagining that the addition of cloves would be better as a substitute idea for using allspice. I find the two spices almost interchangeable when running out of one or the other.

doc

Yes that is the traditional way to make moussaka - fry everything! I used to make it this way but the folks I'm surrounded with won't touch it if it's so heavy so I've had to find ways to lighten it up so that I could still enjoy eating it. Even with all the alterations it ends up still being quite a filling and heavy meal and my family still accuses me of causing a massive outbreak of heartburn haha!