Moussaka (Sort of)

Recipe Source: Just experimenting

Recipe Result: Not bad. Has good flavor, but doesn't really hold up on its own. Worked well as a sandwich, in a pita pocket with some salad.

I miss New York diners. Just like pizzerias, delis, and bagel shops, you're always likely to be within a stone's throw of a decent local diner. I also miss how practically every diner had not only the standard burgers and steaks, but also a Greek menu. One of my favorite Greek diner dishes is moussaka. Think Greek lasagna, with layers of tomato sauce with ground beef or lamb, eggplant, and potato (sometimes). The best I've had in Austin is at El Greco.

I've tried to recreate it a few times in a few different ways, but I find that it's a lot of extra effort to neatly prepare all those individual layers. So, you know what? This time I said "F-ck the layers." I just wanted some spicy, hearty beef and eggplant in an herby tomato sauce. Basically, this recipe totally strips Moussaka down to its elements.

What I ended up with tasted pretty good, but wasn't very stimulating. It felt a little boring to serve with rice and veggies like usual. So I bought some pita pockets and some salad, and made moussaka pita sandwiches out of it. Next time, I'll try to keep the eggplant chunkier and more noticeable to make the texture more interesting, and add some more fresh herbs and maybe some lemon juice to brighten it up.

Click on the "Read More" link below to find my recipe. Try it out, leave a comment to let me know how you like it, or if you found your own way to make it less lackluster.

I made this maybe 2 weeks ago and didn't write down the process. So, bear with me here.

Ingredients:

- 1 tsp olive oil

- 3/4 lb ground beef

- 1 small yellow onion (~3" diameter or smaller), finely diced

- 1/8 tsp ground cinnamon

- pinch of ground nutmeg

- 1 Tbsp olive oil

- 1 large eggplant, sliced into thin rounds or half-rounds.

- 1 or 2 cloves of garlic, minced

- 1 Tbsp tomato paste

- 4 Roma tomatoes; blanched, peeled, seeded and diced. (Or a 14oz can of diced tomatoes)

- 1 tsp fresh oregano, chopped

- about 1/8 tsp dried thyme

- 2 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped

- salt and pepper to taste

Procedure:

1. In however many colanders it takes, lay out all of your slices of eggplant and sprinkle a generous amount of salt on them. Let the eggplant sit for about 30 minutes, to draw out the moisture. While that's happening...

2. In a large bowl, season the ground beef with salt and pepper, and add the diced onion. Mix it all together with your hands.

3. Heat the 1 tsp of olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat, and put in the beef/onion mixture, breaking up the meat into small pieces with a wooden spoon. Add the cinnamon and nutmet too. When it is all browned, drain the excess fat/oil and set aside the meat in a bowl.

4. I hope you didn't forget the eggplant. Rinse off the salt and squeeze out all the water, then pat the eggplant slices dry with a paper towel.

5. Clean the skillet, heat the 1 Tbsp over medium-high heat, and saute the eggplant. Once the eggplant starts to get soft and translucent, add the tomatoes, tomato paste, oregano and thyme. Heat the tomatoes through and let them break down, and feel free to manually mash the tomato/eggplant mixture.

6. Simmer over medium heat for another 15-20 min to continue cooking down the eggplant and breaking down the tomatoes. Toward the end of cooking, add the chopped parsley, and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serving suggestions:

I made a pita sandwich out of it, with some salad greens and sliced tomatoes. I wish I had some tahini sauce. It made about 4 pitas'-worth of sandwiches