My B*tch Better Have My $$!

Last night I decided to try my hand at making moussaka. I've never made it before and thought it would be fun to try. I found a fairly easy looking and tasty sounding recipe on the Cooking Light website (posted in the entry before) and set off to buy the ingredients at the semi awful Shaws across the street.

Believe me when I say it's kinda bad at that Shaws. Ask anyone, who knows Fenway, if they've ever been to that supermarket and watch them shudder. Yeah. Anyway, I seem to do okay there and am good about subbing in and out things in recipes based on what looks sorta decent. But I was really bummed that Shaws didn't have any ground lamb. A little lackluster ground beef package hit my grocery cart. Although I will say that there were some very cute looking lambchops, and I was tempted to buy those and say screw you moussaka! But I stuck to the game plan and decided I'd consider lambchops next week.

I got the rest of my ingredients and while in the baking aisle (one of my favorite aisles) getting spices, I spied cans of sweetened condensed milk. Oh boy. As some of my friends know (I'm looking at you Caroline!). I have a little bit of a drug problem in the form of caramelized sweetened condensed milk or dulce de leche. Oh man! I read somewhere a long time ago that if you boil cans of this milk for a couple of hours and open, they result in brown caramel-y goodness. The first time I ever did it, I ate an entire tin can all by myself and all in one day. I have very little self restraint around foods I love but an entire can of dulce de leche?!?! Yeah, it's a problem. And somehow, who knows how, two cans of sweetened condensed milk end up in my cart with the sad little beef square.


And somehow, who knows how, as I was making my moussaka, those cans of milk made it into a boiling pot of water. Perhaps via the hand of God?

Alright so there were many steps involved with this moussaka but it seems that all moussaka is labor intensive. I browned the meat and threw the onions in with it. I didn't bother to drain it b/c it was a fairly lean pack of meat. I kept referring back to the recipe from my computer, why waste paper if the recipe sucks and perhaps I missed a part where it told me to drain the diced tomatoes. I threw the entire four cans in with gusto.

The sauce was the most interesting part for me because it was a low fat white sauce recipe that called for three egg whites. The sauce turned out fairly tasty but there wasn't a lot of it. I debated making another batch but decided that I didn't want to deviate from the recipe too much.


This is my moussaka pre-cooked and settling into the oven.

This is my moussaka after. I was so excited about this dish. I couldn't wait to taste it. And?

It was good but not great. The first piece revealed an ocean of liquid in the pan. I ended up draining out a lot of water before I stored the rest of it away. And yes, I should have made a double batch of the sauce! It wasn't nearly enough for this thick and filling casserole. The flavor was very good and the texture was great. I liked the addition of the raisins a lot. I think with some rework, this might be a fairly kick ass recipe.

So my moussaka was a little eh, you know what wasn't? God's intervention of Dulce de Leche for me!


Poppin the lid of one container revealing...a biblical proportion miracle! Milk becomes my personal crack cocaine! Oye, as if I needed any other vehicle, other than my spoon (alright sometimes my finger!) for this stuff , I picked up some sugar cookie dough at the supermarket (laziness prevails sometimes!) and sandwiched a little of the dulce de leche between two fresh out of the oven cookies.

And settled in for some I'm Gonna Git You Sucka. What could be better on a freakin crazy cold night in Boston? Sometimes God is good, really good!

Lamb Moussaka

I've had a hankering for greek food for a while now. What I'd really love is a huge gyro sandwich that is as big as my head brimming with yogurt sauce and french fries on the side shoved right into the pita. Yum. But alas I have yet to find a good place for such a craving.

Anyway, I've also been craving some moussaka but since it's notorious for being a heavy dish, I hit cooking light for this recipe below. I'm hoping to make it for dinner tonight. I'll be sure to post about how it goes.

Ingredients

Lamb mixture:
1 1/2 pounds lean ground lamb or beef
2 cups chopped onion
Cooking spray
1/2 cup dried currants or raisins
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
4 (14.5-ounce) cans diced tomatoes, undrained
1 large garlic clove, minced

Sauce:
2 cups 1% low-fat milk, divided
1 tablespoon butter or stick margarine
3 large egg whites
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt

Remaining ingredients:
2 (1 1/4-pound) eggplants, cut lengthwise into 1/4-inch-thick slices
1 tablespoon olive oil, divided
1 pound peeled baking potatoes, cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices
1/4 cup (1 ounce) grated fresh Parmesan cheese, divided
Oregano sprigs (optional)

Preparation

To prepare lamb mixture, cook lamb in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat until browned; stir to crumble. Remove from pan; drain. Set aside. Wipe skillet with paper towels.

Add onion to pan coated with cooking spray; sauté 5 minutes. Add lamb, currants, and next 7 ingredients (currants through garlic); bring to a boil. Cook until thick (about 30 minutes).

Preheat broiler.

To prepare sauce, cook 1 1/2 cups milk and butter in a heavy saucepan over medium-high heat to 180° or until tiny bubbles form around edge (do not boil). Remove from heat. Combine 1/2 cup milk, egg whites, flour, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a large bowl; gradually add the hot milk mixture to the egg white mixture, stirring constantly with a whisk. Return milk mixture to pan, and cook until thick (about 15 minutes), stirring constantly. Remove from heat.

Place half of eggplant slices on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray, and brush with 1 1/2 teaspoons oil. Broil 4 minutes on each side or until browned. Repeat procedure with remaining eggplant and 1 1/2 teaspoons oil.

Preheat oven to 375°.

Cook potato slices in boiling water 5 minutes or until crisp-tender; drain. Rinse with cold water; drain well.

Arrange potatoes in the bottom of a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Arrange half the eggplant slices over potatoes. Pour 4 cups lamb mixture over eggplant, and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon cheese. Arrange remaining eggplant over cheese, and top with the remaining lamb mixture. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon cheese. Spread sauce over cheese, and sprinkle with 2 tablespoons cheese. Bake at 375° for 45 minutes or until top is golden brown. Let stand 15 minutes. Garnish with oregano sprigs, if desired.

Yield

8 servings