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
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
