Moussaka On The Half Shell Food

MOUSSAKA ON THE GRILL

Steps:

• Prepare a grill for indirect heat. If using a charcoal grill, build the hot coals on one side only. If using a gas grill, heat one side only to medium-high heat.
• For the eggplant and meat sauce: Season the eggplant slices on both sides with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil. Turn to coat. Grill the eggplant slices straight over direct heat, flipping once, until tender and lightly golden brown on both sides, 5 to 7 minutes. You can move them from direct to indirect heat as needed. Transfer the eggplant slices to a baking sheet or a plate and set aside.
• Place a 6-quart heavy bottomed saucepan over direct heat. Add a few tablespoons of olive oil along with the ground meat to the saucepot and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring to break up the meat, until well browned and caramelized, about 5 minutes. Then add the onions and garlic with a pinch of salt and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the tomato paste and cook until rust colored, another minute. Add the wine and cook, stirring occasionally, until almost completely evaporated, about 5 minutes. Using butcher's twine, tie the bay leaves, cinnamon stick and oregano into a bundle. Add the crushed tomatoes and the spice bundle to the pot. Move the pot over indirect heat and simmer until thickened, about 30 minutes. Remove from the heat and discard the spice bundle.
• For the bechamel sauce: In a heavy bottomed saucepot over direct heat, melt the butter. When butter has melted, whisk in the flour and cook until it forms a smooth paste, 3 to 4 minutes. Slowly whisk in half of the milk and once the mixture is smooth with no lumps, whisk in the remaining half and the nutmeg. Bring to a gentle boil and cook, stirring often, until thick and velvety, about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and whisk in the pecorino. Set aside to cool slightly, then whisk in the egg yolks and lemon zest.
• To assemble: Place the eggplant slices on the bottom of an enameled dish or cast-iron and cover with the meat sauce. Pour the bechamel all over the top, spreading it out into an even layer. Place over indirect heat, cover the grill and cook until light golden brown and bubbly on top, about 40 minutes.
• Remove from the grill and let stand for 10 minutes before serving. Grate pecorino over the top and sprinkle with chopped parsley.
• (Alternatively, you can bake the moussaka in a 400 degrees F oven for 45 minutes.)

MOUSSAKA

Steps:

• Bake the eggplant: Preheat the oven to 475 degrees F. Brush the eggplant slices on both sides with the oil and lay on 2 small or 1 large foil-lined baking sheet. Season with salt and pepper. Cover with foil and bake until the eggplant is soft, about 25 minutes. Set aside covered.
• Make the meat sauce. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring with a wooden spoon, until lightly browned, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the beef, oregano, allspice, cloves, and cinnamon. Break the meat up into small pieces and season with the 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper to taste. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 2 minutes. Lower the heat to medium and cook, stirring, until just cooked but still slightly pink inside, about 1 minute more. Add the tomato and bay leaf and bring to a simmer. Cover, and cook until the sauce is thickened and fragrant, about 20 minutes.
• Make the custard sauce. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in the flour until smooth. Cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Remove the pan from the heat and add the milk, salt, and nutmeg. Return to the heat and while whisking constantly, bring to a boil. Simmer 2 minutes. Transfer the sauce to a bowl and stir to cool. When the sauce is cool, whisk in the egg and yolks.
• Assemble the moussaka. Lower the oven to 350 degrees F. Brush a 9 x 13 x 2-inch casserole dish with the oil. Scatter the breadcrumbs over the bottom of the pan. Lay half of the eggplant in the pan, overlapping the slices if needed. Cover with half of the meat sauce and smooth with a rubber spatula. Repeat with the remaining eggplant and meat sauce. Pour the custard sauce over the layered mixture and smooth with a rubber spatula. Sprinkle with the Pecorino Romano and bake, uncovered, until lightly browned and the custard is set, about 1 hour.
• Remove the moussaka from the oven and let rest for 10 minutes. Use a slotted spoon or spatula to serve.

TRADITIONAL MOUSSAKA RECIPE WITH EGGPLANTS (AUBERGINES) AND POTATOES

Steps:

• To prepare this Greek moussaka recipe, begin by preparing the eggplants. Remove the stalks from the eggplants and cut them into slices, 1 cm thick. Season with salt and place in a colander for about half an hour.
• and squeeze with your hands, to get rid of the excessive water. Pat them dry and fry in plenty of oil, until nicely colored. Place the fried eggplants on some paper, in order to absorb the oil. (For a lighter version of the traditional Greek moussaka try drizzling the aubergines with some olive oil and bake them for 20 minutes instead of frying them). Set aside when done.
• If you are adding potatoes to your moussaka, now its time to slice them into 0.5cm, half a finger width slices. Fry them or bake them in the same way as the eggplants. Season with some salt and set them aside when done.
• for the moussaka. Heat a large pan to medium-high heat and add the olive oil. Stir in the chopped onions and sauté, until softened and slightly colored. Stir in the mince breaking it up with a wooden spoon and sauté. When it starts to brown, add the the garlic and tomato paste and sauté until the garlic starts to soften. Pour in the red wine to deglaze the meat juices and wait to evaporate. Add the tinned tomatoes, the sugar, a pinch of cinnamon, 1 bay leaf and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Bring to the boil then turn the heat down and simmer with the lid on for about 30 minutes or until most of the juices have evaporated. Set aside when done.
• for the moussaka. Use a large pan to melt the butter over low-medium heat. Add the flour whisking continuously to make a paste. Add warmed milk in a steady stream; keep whisking in order to prevent your sauce from getting lumpy. If the sauce still needs to thicken, boil over low heat while continuing to stir. Its consistency should resemble a thick cream.
• Remove the béchamel pan from the stove and stir in the egg yolks, salt, pepper, a pinch of nutmeg and the most of the grated cheese. Reserve some cheese to sprinkle on top! Whisk quickly, in order to prevent the eggs from turning an omelette! Season with salt to taste. Take one spoon full of béchamel and stir it in the meat sauce. Set the béchamel sauce aside.
• Now its time to assemble the moussaka. For this moussaka recipe you will need a large baking dish, approx. 20x30cm / 8x12inch and 8cm/3 inch deep). Butter the bottom and sides of the pan and layer the potatoes first (if you're using them), then half the eggplants. Pour in all of the meat sauce and spread it out evenly. Add a second layer of eggplants, top with all of the béchamel sauce and smooth out with a spatula.
• . Preheat you oven at 180C/350F and bake your musaka for about 60 minutes or until its crust turns light golden brown. Even though it will be really hard to do so, you should wait for the moussaka to cool down and be just warm to the touch before cutting into pieces. This will prevent the béchamel sauce from pouring out when you're cutting your pieces.
• Serve the Moussaka with a refreshing Traditional Greek Salad and enjoy over a glass of wine!

MOUSSAKA: EGGPLANT CASSEROLE

Steps:

• Salt the eggplant. Spread the eggplant slices in one layer and sprinkle with salt. Let set for 30 minutes to "sweat out" its bitterness.
• Turn the broiler of your oven on.
• Prepare a large sheet pan or two and brush with extra virgin olive oil. Pat the eggplant slices dry, removing excess salt, and assemble in one layer on the prepared pan. Brush generously with olive oil.
• Place the sheet pan about 6 inches away from the broiler. Broil the eggplant briefly, turning over so that both sides are softened and golden brown (do not worry if parts of the eggplant are slightly charred, but watch carefully so it doesn't burn). Remove from the oven and set aside.
• Prepare the meat sauce. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a skillet. Cook the onions on medium heat until they turn slightly golden brown, stirring regularly (about 5 minutes). Now add the ground lamb. Cook the lamb until fully browned, tossing regularly. Drain the lamb from any excess fat and return to the skillet. Add the dried oregano, cinnamon, pepper, nutmeg, and hot paprika. Stir to coat the meat with the spices. Add the wine and boil for 1 minute to reduce. Stir in the canned tomatoes, sugar, and broth. Simmer over medium-low heat for 20 to 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile, heat the oven to 350 degrees F and work on the bechamel.
• Make the bechamel. In a large saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat until shimmering but not smoking. Stir in the flour, salt, and pepper. Cook until golden (if needed, added a little more olive oil). Gradually add the warmed milk, whisking continuously. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, over medium heat for 5 to 7 minutes. Add the nutmeg. In a small bowl, whisk a small amount of the hot bechamel mixture with the 2 eggs. Then return all to the pan and stir into the bechamel mixture. Continue to stir or whisk the mixture bringing to a gentle boil for just 2 more minutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Remove from the heat and allow to cool and thicken a little more. (You should have a creamy, thick and smooth bechamel sauce.)
• Assemble the moussaka. When ready, lightly oil a 9 ½" x 13" oven-safe baking dish. Layer half the eggplant slices on the bottom. Add the meat sauce and spread well. Add the remaining eggplant slices. Pour the bechamel on top and spread to cover all the eggplant, then sprinkle with the bread crumbs.
• Bake. Bake the moussaka casserole on the center rack of the heated oven for 45 minutes. If you need to, transfer the baking pan to the top rack and broil briefly so that the top of the moussaka gains a nice golden brown color (watch carefully).
• Remove from the heat and let the casserole sit for 10 minutes before cutting through into squares to serve. Enjoy!

MOUSSAKA ON THE HALF SHELL

Steps:

• Cut each eggplant in half lengthwise. Hollow out the eggplant halves leaving a 1/2-inch thick shell. Dice eggplant pulp.Toss with flour to coat well.
• Sauté eggplant pulp, half at a time in 2 TB. olive oil. Cook until lightly brown. Spread on paper towels to drain. Repeat with eggplant and oil.
• Add butter or margarine to skillet, sauté onion, garlic, mushrooms and nuts for 5 minutes. Add lamb and cook until all pink color disappears. Break up lamb with fork as it cooks.
• In large bowl combine cooked eggplant and meat, fresh breadcrumbs, tomatoes, salt, oregano and black pepper. Spoon filling into eggplant shells.
• Set shells in large baking pan. Pour in water to depth of 1 inch. Cover pan tightly with foil.
• Bake at 375°F for 45 minutes.
• Remove foil. Increase heat to 400°F.
• Bake 15 minutes longer.
• Sprinkle with chopped parsley if desired.

HOB-TO-TABLE MOUSSAKA

Steps:

• Brown the mince: Heat the oil in a large, shallow pan. Toss in the onion and garlic and fry until soft. Add the mince and stir fry for 3-4 minutes until browned.
• Season and simmer: Tip the tomatoes into the pan and stir in the tomato purée and cinnamon, then season generously with salt and pepper. Leave the mince to simmer for 20 minutes, adding the aubergines half way through.
• To serve: Sprinkle the crumbled feta and chopped mint over the mince. Bring the moussaka to the table as the feta melts and serve it with a crunchy green salad and toasted pitta.

MOUSSAKA

Steps:

• In large, heavy saucepan, heat 1/4 cup oil; saute finely ground meat, onion and garlic until lightly browned; add oregano, basil, cinnamon, salt, ripe olives (if using) and tomato sauce; Cover and simmer slowly about 30 minutes; uncover and simmer slowly another 30 minutes.
• While sauce simmers, prepare Bechamel Sauce (recipe below) and eggplant; cut ends from eggplant (1 large or 2 small) and cut in 1/2-inch-thick slices (if using large, flask-type eggplant, peel the skin off in strips with a vegetable peeler - creating a striped look - with some of the peel left on and some off. If using Japanese-style (the longish, purply-white ones), don't bother to peel at all); Place on a cookie sheet and brush with remaining olive oil; Place under broiler and broil until light brown; Remove from oven, salt lightly, turn eggplant and repeat process; Then position rack in center of oven and heat to 350 degrees.
• There are three ways you can prepare the potatoes for this delicious casserole: 1) shallow-fry potato rounds in olive oil until golden-brown or, 2) for fewer calories, arrange the potato slices in your baking pan, brush lightly with olive oil, bake for 15 minutes, continue with assembly, or 3) if you want to cut calories further, parboil them for 8 minutes; drain well on paper towels.
• To assemble: In 13x9x2-inch baking dish, arrange layer of potatoes, overlapping slightly, season lightly (there will be only one layer of potatoes, so use them all up); next, do a layer of eggplant; sprinkle some Parmesan, kaseri (or cheddar) and bread crumbs over eggplant; layer meat sauce, freshly grated cheeses, crumbs and Bechamel Sauce until all is used; bake 45-50 minutes at 350 degrees or until flecked golden-brown on top.
• To make Bechamel Sauce: In saucepan, melt butter over medium-low heat; whisk in flour and cook slowly until smooth and lightly cooked (2-3 minutes); add salt and remove from heat; add milk, whisking rapidly and return to heat; cook until thick and bubbly, whisking constantly; allow to cool 5 minutes, whisking once in a while to prevent a skin from forming; incorporate eggs and grated cheese with wire whisk to make fluffy sauce.
• Freezer Notes: Once the baked moussaka has completely cooked, cut serving-size pieces, double-wrap in foil and freeze. Defrost in the usual manner and reheat in microwave (or oven) for a delicious, quick meal, when there's little time to cook and dinner is ready and waiting in the freezer!