Mousakas (Moussaka) or, as I think of it, "Happiness on a Plate"

9x13 pan.  Oven 350.

I'm fairly sure that there's no comfort food more, well, comforting, than moussaka.  I've had many variations, but after many tries, this is the simplest version I've managed to create both prep-wise and ingredient wise; its simple, fulsome flavor transports you to a tiled patio above the cerulean Agean, seated next to potted lemon trees and in the company of good friends. The best part of this recipe is that my oldest daughter, Julia, requested it, and it gives me great pleasure to "talk food" with her as she is becoming an excellent and daring cook in her own right!

Slicing the eggplant and potatoes and frying them is the most tedious part of this recipe prep.  I recommend enjoying a sip of the wine while enduring that part of the process. ;)






INGREDIENTS:
1 large eggplant                                                    
1 lb potatoes
olive oil
1 large onion (purple)
1 lb ground lamb or beef
3 roma tomatoes (diced)
1 cup white wine
 1/2 tsp. advieh (See cook's notes below for sub.)
1 bunch parsley
salt and pepper to taste

For the bechamel sauce:
4 tbsp butter
1/2 cup flour
3 cups milk
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 egg yolk
advieh to taste
salt and pepper to taste
1/4  lemon, squeezed

(if you wish, but I don't recommend: 1/2 tsp sugar for bechamel and 2 Tbsp gruyere).

Chop onion fine and saute  in olive oil and salt and then brown up the meat, drain, and add the advieh, salt and pepper and toss, setting aside.

Waiting for the eggplant to draw...

Wash the eggplant, remove the stalk, cut eggplant in half and then lengthways in thin (1/8 inch) slices.  Place the slices in a bowl of salted water and leave to draw while you slice up the potatoes.  I use a good pinch of salt here- I think it's important to the final product.

Peel and cut potatoes into similar slices.  Cut up 1/2 of the parsley bunch and toss with potatoes.  
Fry up the eggplant- you will need a lot of olive oil for this.
Be patient and watch that both sides end up a little brown.
This ensures that the eggplant has some firm texture in the final product.


Fry up the potatoes in olive oil with a little salt.

Layer potatoes in 9x13 pan, follow with meat layer (half the meat), and then create an eggplant layer.




Cover the eggplant layer with a second layer of meat.



Then fry up the diced tomatoes (better if peeled - see cook's notes below) and the parsley, layering the tomatoes on top of the dish.

Now it's time for the bechamel:
Melt the butter in the same fry pan you've been using and slowly add the flour, stirring constantly with a fork.  Slowly add the milk, stirring and when the mixture thickens, remove, stir in the wine, egg yolk, sugar if desired (just don't), lemon, salt, pepper and more advieh to taste. Spread carefully over layers in pan, add sprinkle 2 Tbsp gruyere or mozarella to the top (if you wish but not necessary) and bake for 50-60 minutes.

 Cool a little before cutting.  Enjoy!

Cook's Notes! 

• A note on advieh:  advieh is a persian blend that I purchase at the Common Ground Fair Common Ground Fair. Advieh commonly contains a mixture of: cinnamon, cardamom, coriander, nutmeg, tumeric, saffron and cloves.  You could easily mix a perfectly satisfactory blend of these more common cupboard ingredients:  cinnamon, nutmeg, tumeric and cloves.
• Some people add panko or breadcrumbs to the top, too.  I don't like that texture on top, but to each their own! 
• I don't love cooked tomatoes.  In fact, I kind of hate them.  I know moussaka requires them, and usually the matching pound to the potatoes, but, unless you adore cooked tomato, two or three Romas should be plenty!
• The wine is utterly optional, and I think it's why there's a call for the sugar. 
• Although many recipes call for it, I never add the sugar to the bechamel sauce.  I don't think it needs it, but if you do, add no more than a 1/2 tsp. Even that much drastically changes the flavor.

Snowday Breakfast: Roasted Avocado and Egg

Oven 450.  Prep five minutes, baking time 15-20.

2 avocados
4 medium eggs

To taste:
Sea salt
Pepper
Thyme
Pink peppercorns for color

Snowdays are for coffee, warm healthy food...and grading.  I'm thankful for the snowday because I banked on it and didn't grade midterms last night.  About 4 am this morning, I was sweating it a little, but then the blessed call came!  With tiny ice bombs pinging against the window and car doors slowly gluing themselves stuck, I'm still stalling, and I'm going to need all the energy this high octane breakfast can offer.

Snowdays are about the only time I want hot coffee, the darker the better and sprinkled with a little espresso powder (currently Williams Sonoma, a gift from my friend Cara) and topped with a dight of whipped heavy cream laced with almond flavoring.  Just try it.  You won't need the coffee creamer section, ever again.  My husband and youngest son traditionally watch "The White Shadow" on DVD, so I begin the process to the funky theme song of the show. BTW "The White Shadow" was lead Ken Howard's actual nickname in school.  Yuppers!

Avocado selection is next; I want to find the ripest one in my fruit drawer, but I hate mushy anything, so it can't be too ripe.  I just buy them rocklike, refrigerate them, and keep my eye on them to avoid waste.  I know they are ripe when they just start to yield to a bit of pressure from my fingertips.

The key to these babies is in hollowing out the avocado after you remove the seed.  I'll show you what it looks like if you don't do it right in a bit!

Use a small spoon, stay away from the edge, and try to dig evenly so that the avocado, skin still on, stands upright and the egg fits without waste. Medium eggs work best with average sized avocados.

I salt and pepper the shell before and after the egg, so I go pretty lightly on the salt--sea salt for these, and Penzey's pepper.

I wasn't careful enough, so see how this one emptied out a bit into the pan and had to be resuscitated....




Thyme is a great choice on eggs, but anything, chives, marjoram, even proasic old parsley will do!

While they bake, about 15 minutes for soft boiled and 18 for "hard" yolks, make your toast and add your garnish...Because I don't like mushy, I like the harder yolks, especially in contrast to the avocado which softens as it bakes.

Then enjoy!  This is a truly healthy breakfast that provides energy and satisfaction from the warm, nutty flavor of the avocado in contrast with the salty tang of the egg.

Snow Day Potatoes With Rosemary

"Food shouldn't be some sort of artistic torture.  

It's gotta be something uplifting, fulfilling and delicious."

 --Ben Shewry

Removed to serving dish!

When planning a meal or dish, I don’t envision ingredients piled in a grocery store; instead, I’m balancing on the dangerously cushiony seat of the kitchen stool shifting one of the cinnamon jars to find the sprinkles in my grandmother’s walk in pantry or volunteering to venture down the steep stairs into the earthy musk of the root cellar to grab a squash I like, avoiding the alien warty blue Hubbards piled in the back corner.  In the harsh fluorescence of the grocery store, in the present, I rely on my husband who stocked shelves in a large grocery chain as a college student and instinctively knows in which aisle I will find whatever I need.  Back home, planning again, I imagine myself behind my grandmother’s wood stove, right next to the oblong pipe, out of her way, yet right on top of her going on.  Older relatives in blue frock coats, skimmable beige Jersey cow cream sloshing at the top of the milk jar, weed-strewn, dew-wet gardens, peapods, steaming black canning kettles, wood smoke, flaky, floury pie crust, crimson fillings, warmth, gone now but part and parcel of my emotional core.  For those reasons I cook, and, in food photos, I dim the lights or apply a warm filter, conveying the mental terroir in which the offerings are conceived and created.

Today was a snow day.  For years, I would have waited for the plow to pass my house then drive to school to correct, plan and prep.  As I’ve taken on more responsibilities at school, there’s a paradoxical demand for days like this to provide a complete unplugging, away from most technology, lost in a recipe that will take over my head, hands and heart, forming itself within distant memories, from instinct and raw materials.  

Cold days like today call for root veggies, but I didn’t have many to hand, nor was I planning to abandon my pajamas unless necessary.  Squashes were the focus on Christmas and carrots made New Years festive; that left potatoes.  My husband, bless him, hates potatoes.  I live in the hope that someday he will be tempted to try one.  Youngest child, double bless him, would eat sawdust if presented with potatoes on top, so I was aiming for something simple, warm, and replicable for your culinary escape, too.

Snow Day Potatoes with Rosemary

What makes these potatoes exceptional are the herb-crusted bacon and the crisp edges permeated with rosemary oil.

Prep Notes: Set oven to 350.  Choose 9x9 pan for the baking, but half fill a bowl with cold water and put the potato slices in there as you work.  30 minutes prep, 90 minutes to bake.  

Youngest Child dug in before I was done photographing!

Ingredients:

6 strips of bacon +2 so that you can snack
8 Yukon Gold potatoes, medium sized
1 cup of heavy cream
1/3 cup white cheddar cheese
1/2 cup parmesan cheese 
1 1/8 tsp. marjoram
1 1/8 tsp. garlic, minced
1 1/8 tsp. thyme
Sprigs of rosemary 
salt to taste
pepper to taste

Herbed Bacon

Directions: 

Brown the bacon in a skillet over low heat.It will not be fully cooked. Don't worry; that happens in the oven! 

Once the bacon has begun to release its juices, dust with 1/8 tsp. marjoram, 1/8 tsp.garlic, 1/8 tsp.and thyme, and good pepper. 

Peel the potatoes, remembering to drop them into cold water once peeled. 

Time to bake!

Mix heavy cream, cheeses (except for one Tbsp of the parmesan and one Tbsp of the cheddar), the rest of herbs salt and pepper in separate bowl. 

Slice potatoes with mandolin and coat potatoes with cream mixture and then slide into buttered 9x9. Pour any remaining liquid over top and top with the reserved cheese.

Tuck bacon and rosemary around and between the rows of potato.

Bake for 70 minutes at 350 on middle rack.  Check about halfway through and put aluminum foil over top if bacon is getting too brown.  

Just before broiling! 

At 70 minutes, remove pan from oven and turn oven to broil.  Carefully remove the bacon to a paper towel.  

Optional: remove the browned cheese.  Dole out the browned cheese to the family :)  and break the bacon into tiny pieces. I do this because I want the bacon to be brown not broiled, and I want to savor the edges of the potatoes.  The rosemary oil will have soaked them so that they turn beautifully brown and crispy.

Return potatoes to oven for 5-10 minutes, or until the edges are browned to your satisfaction.  Sprinkle with bacon crumbs.

Serve and enjoy! 

Notes:  

• I cut the ends off the potatoes so that I can line up the slices more squarely in the pan, and I use them on the ends of the columns so that the slices stand straighter and bake equally.  

• Because of the bacon grease, I usually remove the potatoes to a serving dish.  

Tortellini or Duck?

Getting Ready to Mix! 

We tried pasta from scratch this morning, and by "us," I mean me, with just-turned-9-year-old Youngest Child as a semi-willing taste tester. We will have to complete this task a few times before I'm ready to post a recipe; I've got a lot to learn about making pasta, but here's an accounting of the first steps in our family's fresh pasta journey! 

Finding a recipe was a challenge because most demanded "00" flour. "Doppio" or double zero pasta flour is specifically milled for pasta making, that is, lower in protein, a mellower flour.  Not willing to be foiled by double 0 anything, and having read that it's not that far off from regular flour, I went with 3 1/2 cups plus 4 eggs.  I kneaded for about 6 minutes (FYI, that's several times through "Mary Did You Know?"), but the dough was too dry.  I added a dash of olive oil which improved the situation dramatically; while there was definitely still too much flour, I could see approximately the right color and texture begin to form.

Rolled and ready to slice!  

Next, I chilled the dough for about half an hour in the fridge and then rolled it thin.  Some of it broke into pieces, so my fettuccine were uneven in length.  I didn't want to waste the pieces left over, so I chopped up some sharp cheddar and formed some awkward tortellini, including what appeared to be a duck....

Need to work on the aesthetics! 

Tortellini or Duck? 

Let's just cook him to find out!  

Turns out, fresh pasta cooks in about 4 minutes rather than 7-8 if placed in already boiling water.  We always add two drops of rosemary or oregano essential oil, a dash of olive oil and a pinch of sea salt to the boiling water, but today I wanted to really taste the pasta for itself, so I went with just the oil and no salt.  

Ready for the taste tester...

Disclaimer:  The Youngest Child was not bribed, paid or prepped for what he was about to experience!  And the reason you can read the logo on his Star Wars pajamas is because, yes, they were on inside out (he careth not).   <3

I'm anxious to try fresh pasta again and to add some variations to the dough and while I cook it.  I'll keep you posted!  

Thank you for reading!  I hope you'll leave me any feedback and tips you have !    Love, Liz  

Whatcha Gonna Do With That Leftover Ham?

Stuffed Mushroom and Ham Quiche

Prep Notes: Set oven to 380.  Butter a pie plate.  10 minutes prep, 25 minutes to bake.  

What makes this quiche exceptional is the crust, a sort of stuffed mushroom extravaganza.

Crisp, sugary and tender, the Christmas ham crowned the holiday table, but now the remains lie limp in an opaque red holiday gallon bag at the bottom of the fridge.  Pea soup and mini ham sandwiches on peppery pain au lait have left us with seven or eight more slices, and it's a bright Sunday morning, January 1, 2017. The trees outside are laced with fresh snowfall; there's shoveling to be done, but, first, the occasion begs something simple yet noteworthy for a cozy New Year's Day brunch.  

Crust:  

One package of portobello mushrooms, chopped
One medium sized onion, chopped
1/2 cup Panko crumbs
3 Tbsp. Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

Crust directions:

Saute the mushrooms and onion in 3 Tbsp. butter until the onions are clear.  Add panko, parmesan and salt and pepper.  Press directly from skillet into buttered pie plate.  

Filling ingredients:  

4 eggs
I cup diced ham.

1 bar (8 oz) cream cheese

1 tsp. marjoram

1 tsp. basil paste

1/2 tsp. minced garlic

salt and pepper to taste 

Mix all filling ingredients until smooth.
  

Pour filling into crust and bake for 25 minutes.  

Notes:  

• Let quiche sit for five minutes before you slice and serve.
• Be sure to give the cream cheese mixture time to fully blend; you don't want chunks of cream cheese resting on your tongue. 
• This crust comes out nice and clean from the pie plate, always a bonus. 
• Garnish with parsley and hot sauce, if desired.