Living With the Lus: Moussaka

I have been listening to some pretty rad podcasts lately (will post about podcasts another time), and one of my favorites is called The Table Set, by these three guys that talk about food, entertaining, throwing parties, and cocktails. What is not to love about that! Their suggestions always get the wheels of my foodie brain churning, and I get amped to try new things. Sometimes the combination of foods that they describe when they are explaining a dish, blow my mind. My favorite is when they discuss cocktails (things to try: French 75 and Armagnac as an aperitif) and also when they casually reference things like bacon salt, fennel powder and Vadouvan French curry powder. Their most recent episode was on food for brunch, my favorite meal of the day. I die.

Anyways, on one of the podcasts they were discussing dishes that can feed a lot of people, and Moussaka was mentioned. Have you had Moussaka? It’s pretty spectacular, especially if you like eggplant. (This is also a good dish if you are trying to avoid carbs. In some respects, you can describe it as a lasagna that substitutes eggplants for pasta). There are many variations of this but I’ve usually had it of the Greek variety and always liked it, so I thought, I should make this!! So I did.

So here is a very thorough explanation of how I got through making my very first Moussaka, not to mention my very first time working with eggplant. Here is the good, the bad, and the delicious lowdown (all photos taken with iphone).

First of all, it takes quite a bit of time, especially if it is your first time making it. More time than I thought it would. So take an afternoon or a morning where you have about 2-3 hours of time and enjoy the process. In my case, it was the first weeknight that I had free in a long long while, so I decided to make an event of it. I stopped by the market on my way home and picked up the rest of the ingredients that I needed. Again, there are many different ways to go about this, but this is what I used. Ingredients: 1) 2 lbs of ground Italian sausage – 1 lb of sweet and 1 lb of spicy; 2) 3 globes of eggplants* (yes, globes!); 3) 1 onion; 4) 3 potatoes; 5) 1 cup of tomato sauce; 6) 1 lemon; 7) ½ cup of red wine; 8) 1 cup of grated cheese; 9) 1 stick of unsalted butter (or less); 10) 4 cups of whole milk; 11) 1/2 cup of flour; 12) 4 egg yolks

Other things that you should have nearby: 2 Tbsp of olive oil, 4 chopped garlic cloves,1 tsp of cinnamon, 1 tsp of black pepper, 1 Tbsp of dried oregano, salt to taste

*[Tip for picking eggplants: the darker the better! And when you press against it with your hand you should get a spongy resistance back]

The prelude: wine. I love me some wine sippage while I cook, it relaxes me and it gets my senses and taste buds all perked up and ready to go. It gets me in the mood to smell and taste, smell and taste. A good pairing for Moussaka is a lush red, like a Cabernet, and I had picked up a bottle of Gouguenheim as the accompaniment. I find I am fond of Cabs from South America (Casillero del Diablo is another example of a really good Cab around $10), and this one did not disappoint.

Now! to really start. The best way to think about cooking this dish is in stages: eggplant – potatoes – meat sauce – béchamel.

Eggplant. I tackled the eggplant first because I had never cooked with eggplant before. I cut off the top and the bottom ends, and then peeled most of it off, leaving a few strips of skin for a little texture. Then I sliced into rounds, placed them on paper towels, and sprinkled with salt to leave sitting for 20-30 minutes. The salt is supposed to take the bitterness out of the eggplant, and after a while you will notice the slices have gotten wet. Note: Not too much salt! I made this mistake). Leave them, then wash them, and then dry them off. I used a lot of paper towels. Then brush them with some olive and oil and broil them in the oven for 3-4 minutes on each side.

Potatoes. Peel, slice, drop them in salted boiling water for 5-8 minutes. They don’t have to be cooked all the way but they should not be crunchy anymore.

Meat sauce. Like making pasta sauce. Brown meat, onions, and garlic. Add tomato sauce and sprinkle in salt, pepper, oregano and some cinnamon. The smell of this cooking with the oregano and cinnamon is ama-zing. Notes for next time though: less cinnamon, more tomato sauce and add in mushrooms and zucchini. Why not? Cook for a few minutes and add in red wine. Let simmer for 20 minutes, then taste and add spices as you would like. Then add in lemon juice and some zest. If it is too watery, drain a little bit of the liquid off.

Bechamel. This is a really neat technique that I had not tried before. It's kind of tricky in that it was new to me, but it worked out. First, heat the 4 cups of milk on medium heat until steamy, but don't let it simmer. Then in a separate pot, heat the stick of butter, and when it is melted, slowly whisk in the 1/2 cup of flour. Have this butter-flour mixture simmer for a few minutes. Then pour in the steamy milk, stirring constantly. It will set up and thicken weirdly at first, but keep adding milk and stirring. Return the heat to medium, add a pinch of salt and nutmeg and stir well.

[Side Note: I really like that our kitchen is open enough that I can do one of these numbers in order to check out recipe as I go and/or listen to music. And while we are looking around the kitchen, aren't these tea towels the best things ever! Birthday gift from Martha.]

Assemble! Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put a layer of potatoes at the bottom of a 13x9 pan. Make sure there is some overlap. Then do a layer with eggplant (use about half the eggplants). Add in all of the meat sauce on top, and then use the rest of the eggplants for the next layer. Sprinkle half of the parmesan cheese. Top the whole thing with the béchamel and sprinkle on rest of the cheese. Pop in oven for 30-45 minutes and watch for browning.