According to Cook’s Illustrated this month the top 3 olive oils are from Spain and Greece!
I remember Greek olive oil growing up-it was really potent! I had a great Aunt Mary who made moussaka and it was always drenched in Greek olive oil. It was quite inedible because it was served at room temperature (allowing it to be a bit congealed) and it was always some gigantic piece that would serve a family of 4. Yuck! It took me years to acquire a taste for moussaka; I was in my 20s.
The trick with moussaka is that you must slice the eggplant, salt it and let the brown liquid ooze out for a few hours. It really makes a difference, in fact it makes it edible!
Eggplant Moussaka (ala Tess Mallos-The Greek Cookbook)
Serves 6-8, Cooking Time 2 hours, Oven temperature 350 degrees
1 eggplant
- cut in slices, salt and let drain in colander
- oil each side
- place under broiler, turn when brown-do both sides
Meat Sauce: place all ingredients below in pan and let simmer for 30 minutes
- 1 large onion
- 2 garlic cloves (are you kidding-more like 10!)
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 2 lbs ground beef
- 1 cup white wine
- 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (what a surprise!)
- salt and pepper
Cream Sauce (let it be known, this cream sauce goes on everything!)
- 3 tablespoons butter (that’s all)
- 4 tablespoons flour
- 2 1/2 cups milk
- 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg or cinnamon
- salt and pepper
- 3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese (try closer to 1/2 cup to make it good)
- 1 egg lightly beaten
Melt butter in saucepan, stin in flour and cook gently about 2 minutes. Add milk and bring to boil, stirring constantly. Let sauce bubble gently for 1 minute. Remove from heat, stir in spice, cheese , salt & pepper. Just before spreading on moussaka, stir in egg.
Assembling:
- Grease an oven dish (13 x 9 x 2)
- Layer eggplant and meat (2 times)
- spread cream sauce on top
- Sprinkle with cheese
- cook for about 1 hour
- Let stand 10 minutes, so that you can cut it into squares to serve(it’s illegal to not serve moussaka in squares)
Yassou!
