NY Times moussaka recipe?
I remember years ago making the NYTimes moussaka recipe which I have long since lost. Does anyone have it or can give me a URL to find it? Or another excellent moussaka recipe that does NOT call for frying the eggplant, please!!
Thanks so much.
vozick
Apr 18, 2006 07:37PM
I don't know the Times recipe but I never fry the eggplant. Lay raw eggplant slices on cookie sheet and sprinkle with olive oil. Bake at 400* until edges get brownish. Put them in big (greased) Pyrex dish to make bottom layer. Fry up ground beef or lamb with onion, an 8-oz can tomato sauce, salt, lemon juice, and cinnamon (be generous with the lemon juice and cinnamon). Put on top of eggplant. (I put a layer of grated Mozzarella on top of the meat although that's not traditional.) Then make the bechamel sauce of 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 cup butter, and 3-4 cups milk, then beat 2 eggs into this. Pour over the meat (and possibly the cheese) layer. Bake for an hour. Leftovers freeze well. (PS since you requested a non-fried eggplant version I don't know whether you may want a really low-fat moussaka. You can make this version lower-fat by using skim milk or defatted chicken stock and Egg Beaters for the bechamel; you really can't tell the difference. You might cut the butter and flour to 1/4 cup each, and use 95% lean ground beef. Just use plenty of lemon juice and cinnamon as they will carry the day.)
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I second the method of not frying the eggplant. As suggested brushing or sprinkling with olive oil and baking in a very hot oven is a great way to cook the eggplant. Eggplant just soaks up the oil when frying and who needs all those extra calories.
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Here's one from the NY Times in 1998, thanks to ProQuest (an advantage of working at a University! your library might have it as well). I've actually made this from the Rosengarten cookbook - I used to like his Food Network show.
MOUSSAKA
Adapted from ''Taste,'' by David Rosengarten (Random House, 1998)
Time: About 4 hours
4 large eggplants, about 1 1/2 pounds each
6 tablespoons Greek olive oil, plus a little for coating the eggplants
Kosher salt, to taste
4 medium onions, chopped
6 garlic cloves, chopped
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes in tomato puree
1/4 cup parsley, minced
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 pounds ground lamb
1/2 cups dry white wine
Black pepper to taste
4 pinches freshly grated nutmeg
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 tablespoons flour
2 cups hot, scalded milk
White pepper, to taste
4 eggs
10 tablespoons fresh bread crumbs
1 cup grated kefalotyri cheese or pecorino Romano.
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Prick eggplants several times with a fork. Rub a little olive oil into their skins. On a large baking sheet, roast eggplants until soft, about 30 minutes, turning frequently. Remove from oven and let cool. Cut into 1/2-inch-thick round slices.
2. In a saute pan, heat 4 tablespoons olive oil over high heat and brown eggplant slices lightly on each side. Do this in batches, adding more oil as necessary. Drain on paper towels and sprinkle with salt. Set aside.
3. Make tomato sauce: In a saucepan heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat. Add 1 chopped onion and 2 chopped garlic cloves, and saute until tender. Add tomatoes and their puree, squeezing them into coarse chunks. Add parsley, oregano, cinnamon and vinegar. Stir well. Simmer, uncovered, for 25 minutes. Reserve.
4. Prepare lamb: In a large saute pan, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium-high heat. Add remaining onions and garlic. Saute for 5 minutes. Add lamb, in stages if necessary, and brown well, breaking up pieces with a wooden spoon. Add wine and bring to a boil. Cook until wine has nearly evaporated.
5. Season lamb with salt, black pepper and 2 pinches of nutmeg. Stir in 1 cup of reserved tomato sauce. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 1 hour.
6. Prepare bechamel: In a large saucepan, melt 4 tablespoons of butter over medium-low heat, and gradually whisk in flour. Cook for 2 minutes, whisking constantly. Do not let this brown. Add hot milk and whisk rapidly to combine. Bring to a slow boil, whisking constantly. Reduce heat and simmer for 25 minutes, stirring frequently, until smooth and thickened. Season with salt, white pepper and remaining 2 pinches nutmeg. Let cool slightly.
7. In a mixing bowl, beat eggs and whisk in a spoonful of bechamel. Whisk in remaining bechamel in a thin stream, and adjust seasoning.
8. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Assemble moussaka: Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of bread crumbs across the bottom of a large baking dish (18-by-8-by-3 inches) and cover crumbs evenly with half the eggplant slices. Drain as much oil from lamb mixture as possible, and spread the meat over the eggplant layer. Top meat with half the cheese, then with half the remaining bread crumbs. Place remaining eggplant slices on top of the bread crumbs, then add the bechamel, remaining cheese and remaining bread crumbs in even layers. Dot with remaining butter.
9. Bake for 45 minutes, until well browned. Remove from oven and let cool slightly, about 15 minutes. Cut into 3-inch squares to serve. Serve with the extra tomato sauce.
Yield: 15 servings.
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My recipe calls for frying but I usually broil half of it. One comment-it makes a big difference in the finished product if you slice the eggplants in very thin slices lengthwise instead of rounds. The dish is more elegant and delicious. I use about 6 eggplants, slice thin top to bottom, salt, sit, rinse, squeeze out the water then broil. Unfortunately it is time consuming but very good.
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I don't make it the hard way any more. I mix in a generous amount of caponata in lieu of sliced eggplant. To cut down on the richness, I put mostaccoli or penne in...sort of a moussaka/pastitia combo. Lots of bechamel and feta.
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