Exploring Greek Cooking

I had purchased another beautiful eggplant this week and wanted to do something different with it tonight.  With the ground veal (grass-fed "free range") I had received last week, I decided to try my hand at Eggplant Moussaka.  I found a recipe that looked easy enough on Allrecipes.com.  When I read the commets, I found complaints about the seasoning and greasiness.  So I adapted the recipe to try and deal with both of those complaints.

Veal & Eggplant Moussaka
Adapted from Allrecipes.com (http://allrecipes.com/recipe/veal-and-eggplant-moussaka/detail.aspx)

• 2 large eggplant, thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 garlic scape, thinly sliced*
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 pound ground veal*
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1/2 cup beef stock
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 egg yolk, beaten*
• 1 cup milk*
• 1/2 cup feta cheese

1. Preheat your oven to 450F. Spray a 13X9X2" inch baking dish.
2. Place slices in baking pan, spraying each layer with cooking spray.  Roast 15 minutes, flip slices and roast another 10 minutes.
3. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onions, garlic, oregano and cinnamon; cook and stir until softened. Crumble in the veal, and cook until evenly browned. Season with salt and pepper, and stir in the tomato paste and beef stock. Simmer over low heat for 15 minutes. 
4. Melt the remaining butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the flour until smooth, then gradually stir in the milk so that no lumps form. Simmer, stirring constantly, until thickened. Remove from the heat and whisk in the egg yolk.
5. Place a layer of eggplant on the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Top with half of the veal mixture, and half of the feta cheese. Repeat the layers, then place remaining eggplant in a layer on top. Pour the sauce over all, and sprinkle with reserved bread crumbs.
6. Bake for 45 minutes, uncovered, in the preheated oven, or until browned and bubbly.

*CSA ingredients

Note: I am asking myself why I have waited so long to try making this.  The only answer I can come up with is that I hate making bechemal sauce.  However, now that I have tried it and tasted the results, I believe I may be more willing to try things like this in the future.  The changes gave it a very "Greek" flavor and with the right eggplant (remember, if you press your thumb in and the indetation stays, you will need to salt the eggplant to pull out the bitter taste), it has a very nice sweetness.

CSA Meatballs!

So, this may be hard to believe, but I have only once in my lifetime made meatballs before.  This is especially surprising if you know that my great grandparents were from Sicily!  :-s  But this week, in our CSA package, we got three packages of ground meat: hamburger, veal and Italian sausage.  Perfect combination for meatballs, don't you think?  We also got a dozen fresh eggs, so I am very flush with eggs.  Thus, this morning, I decided to do my best to make meatballs.

Italian Sausage Meatballs

Makes about 50 meatballs

• 1 lb hamburger
• 1 lb Italian sausage (bulk)
• 1 lb veal, ground
• 1 cup Italian breadcrumbs
• 1 egg
• 1 Tbsp sweet basil, dried
• 3 garlic cloves

Place all three meats in a large bowl and mix well.  Add breadcrumbs, egg, basil and garlic; mix well (try not to handle meat too much).  Line baking sheets with foil and spray with cooking spray.  Make meatballs by taking a small handful of meat mixture and rolling it into balls (about 1-1 1/2").  Place on baking tray, about 1/2" apart.  Bake at 375F for 20 minutes.  Either freeze for later use or add to homemade sauce.

Weight Watchers PointsPlus value (2 meatballs per serving): 4 points

I will make some spaghetti sauce later to put some of them in (the rest will be frozen to take to my husband).  I also recieved some fresh black pepper pasta in the package this week, so I will probably have meatballs over the fresh pasta for dinner tonight.  Yum!  Can't wait!