My Need To Eat Greek Food

I just love Greek food! I had a fit in my head yesterday and I 'needed' to make Greek foodie things.
I think you might have noticed by now that Moussaka is one of my favourites, which I do believe, I have now perfected!

Remember my first attempt to make cheese saganaki a while back? Well, I tried and failed - for some reason I decided that it must be deep fried (wrong)! All the batter went to the top of the fryer and the cheese, well most of it sank to the bottom and the result was a huge mess.

Anyway, you live and learn! This second attempt of mine was much better.
I just dipped the feta into egg, then into seasoned flour, then egg and flour again and shallow fried it........Success!


Ever since I had the Greek dip Htipiti I loved it! I found the recipe from Peter over at 'Kalofagas' so I thank Peter for that. His recipe can be found here.

It involves char grilling one or more chili peppers - depending on how much dip you are making. I think mine were more than charred!


The result is one yummy dip.

Then onto my perfected Moussaka!
I would like to someday use Kefalotiri cheese, but haven't been able to get it - not even in Waitrose! I have no idea what the difference would be though, if any.

What you need:
2 tablespoons of olive oil
About 12 Kalamata olives, chopped
500g minced lamb - get the best you can with a low fat content
1 400g can of good quality chopped tomatoes
1/2 a glass of red wine
2 large onions - chopped
4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 aubergine, sliced into thin rounds
3 teaspoons dried oregano
1 large handful of Romano or Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoons dried basil
1/2 a teaspoon of dried mint
2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons of tomato puree
salt and pepper to taste
2 to 3 large potatoes, peeled and sliced into 1/4-inch thick rounds

For the Béchamel Sauce:
50g butter - melted
500ml of hot milk
4 tablespoons plain flour
2 eggs - lightly beaten
a good handfull grated Romano Cheese (about 3/4 cup) or Parmesan
1/2 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
salt to taste (about 1/4 teaspoon)

How to do it:
Brush the aubergine with a little olive oil. Now fry them in a large pan a few at a timeuntil they are cooked. Remove and set aside.
Heat the oil in a large pan and saute the onion and garlic until soft but not coloured. Now add the lamb and cook until it is lightly browned.

Add the wine and cook until it has reduced slightly.
Now add the oregano, basil, mint and cinnamon, olives and the can of tomatoes. Season, with salt and pepper.
Cook on a low heat for about an hour, until the mixture becomes thick.

Now put the sliced potatoes into boiling water and simmer partly covered for about 6 minutes (or when you can easily insert a knife) they are ready.
Run them under cold water, drain and pat dry with kitchen paper and set aside.
Lightly oil a largish baking dish, mine is probably about 9 x 9 inches and about 2.5 inches deep.

Arrange a layer of potatoes over the bottom. Now put a layer of meat sauce and a layer of aubergine, sprinkle with some cheese and then do another layer of meat sauce followed by a layer of aubergine.


The Bechamel Sauce:
In saucepan melt the butter over medium-low heat and stir in the flour with a wooden spoon and cook the mixture for a couple of minutes and add the salt.
Now at this point, take it off the heat and add the hot milk whilst using a balloon whisk to mix it but you need to keep that whisk going!
Now let it cool a bit and then, add the eggs and grated cheeseand keep whisking until it turns into this lovely smooth sauce.
Mix in the ground nutmeg.
Taste a smidgen of it if you dare (remembering there are raw eggs in it) just to see if it needs any more salt.

Pour the sauce over the top and sprinkle with a little more cheese. Top with a little sprinkling of nutmeg.



Bake in a Pre-heated oven at 175C/350F Gas4 for about 40 minutes until the top is golden brown and it is hot piping hot in the middle.

Meanwhile I made a salad.

My finished Moussaka - and I promise not to blog about Moussaka again!