Monday, July 24, 2023

Moussaka noted

While I'm generally on the dismissive side of Greek cuisine, I have tried cooking moussaka before, and gave it a go again on the weekend for the first time in probably a couple of decades.   (The inspiration:  cheap eggplant and very un-fatty looking lamb mince at Harris Farm.)  

I followed this recipe to good success.

The reasons it was better than I remembered were no doubt:

*  I didn't fry the eggplant in olive oil and let it soak it up like a sponge:  I baked it for 25 minutes after just brushing the slices with olive oil.  

*   the potatoes were sliced thinner than I used to do (just half a centimetre) and they were also brushed and baked at the same time as the eggplant.

*   despite having made bechamel sauce many times before, I don't recall ever following a recipe that had egg yolk added at the end.  But yeah, it definitely increases the richness, and perhaps the thickness, of the final product.

*   a combination of a slightly thicker bechamel and letting it sit for 10 minutes before serving did mean I didn't have runaway flow of bechamel when I served it.   

I adjusted the quantities to about 3/4 of what is in the recipe, and it still made enough for 6 servings.  It's a very substantial dish to eat.

That is all...

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