Moussaka

I have been wanting to make this for ages, but I know that it is quite an involved process. I finally worked up the courage to find a good recipe and try it out (this one I found on the Food Network by Bobby Flay, altered slightly). 

Lamb:

1/4 cup olive oil, divided

1 lb. ground lamb

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp ground allspice

1/8 tsp cayenne

salt and pepper to taste

1 large yellow onion, halved and thinly sliced

1 red bell pepper, stemmed, cored, and thinly sliced

5 cloves garlic, finely chopped

2 T tomato paste

1 cup red wine

1 (28-ounce can) plum tomatoes, pureed until smooth with their juices

1/4 cup chopped fresh flat leaf parsley, plus more for garnish

1 T dried oregano

Eggplant:

1 1/2 cups canola oil

1 1/2 pounds eggplant, cut crosswise into 14-thick slices

Bechamel Sauce:

6 T unsalted butter

1/2 cup flour

2 1/2 cups milk

1 bay leaf

1/8 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

3 egg yolks

1/2 cup soft goat cheese

1 cup grated Romano

1 lemon, zested

LAMB

Heat 1 T of the olive oil in a large saucepan over high heat. Add the lamb, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, cayenne, and salt and pepper and cook, stirring to break up the meat, until browned, about 5 minutes. Transfer the lamb to a large strainer set over a bowl and drain; discard any liquid left in the pan. Return the pan to the heat and add the remaining 3 tablespoons olive oil and heat until it begins to shimmer. Add the onions and bell pepper and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the tomato paste and cook for 1 minute.

Return the lamb to the pan, add the wine, and cook, stirring occasionally, until almost completely evaporated, about 5 minutes. Add the tomato puree and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until thickened, about 30 minutes. Stir in the parsley and oregano and season with salt and pepper, as needed. Remove from the heat.

EGGPLANT

Heat the canola oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Season the eggplant slices on both sides with salt and pepper. Working in batches, add the eggplant slices and fry until tender and lightly golden brown on both sides, about 5 minutes. Transfer the eggplant slices to paper towels.

BECHAMEL 

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the flour and cook, whisking constantly, until pale and smooth, 2 minutes. Still whisking constantly, add the milk and bay leaf and cook until thickened. Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg and discard the bay leaf. Let the sauce cool for 5-10 minutes. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, goat cheese, and lemon zest and whisk into the bechamel sauce until smooth. Preheat the oven to 400 deg F. Spray a 3-quart baking dish or casserole dish well with cooking spray.

ASSEMBLY

Put half the eggplant slices in the dish and cover with half the meat sauce. Top the sauce with the remaining eggplant slices, and then the remaining meat sauce. Pour the bechamel over the top of the meat sauce and spread evenly with a rubber spatula. Sprinkle Romano evenly over the top, place the dish on a baking sheet, and bake until browned and bubbly, 45 to 50 minutes. Top with more chopped parsley, if desired. Let cool for at least 20 minutes before serving.

It was okay, but nothing like you'll find in Greece ;).

Banana Roll Treat

This simple snack/breakfast/or even lunch takes me back to my grad school days. I was living out in Utah attending grad school, had no money, and was struggling to eat healthy on a shoe string budget...and the scale was proof of that. Cheap food is, for the most part, NOT healthy. Determined to balance my budget with my waistline, I found a (free at the time) program online called eDiets that had pretty good recipes that were healthy but also wallet friendly. I downloaded these meals every week to make my meal planner and found great success both with cooking and balancing my diet. This was a fun little treat that I would eat for breakfast or for a snack. It is still good today, and in fact I actually made it for lunch today (admittedly because I desperately need to go to the grocery store and the ingredients for this are mostly "pantry" ingredients).

Banana Roll Treat

1 large banana

(2) 6" whole wheat tortillas

4 T peanut butter

4 T granola

2 T honey

Dash cinnamon

Cut the banana in half. Spread 2 T of peanut butter over each tortilla. Lay a banana half in the center of each. Sprinkle each banana with 2 T granola and 1 T honey. Season with a dash of cinnamon over each and wrap up like a burrito. Voila!

Although I didn't have kids at the time, and even now I eat this occasionally myself, this is a great kids dish as well. It's easy for them to help assemble and it is healthy too. My son in particular loves both bananas and peanut butter.  

Goat Cheese Salad

I'm not quite sure how to post this salad. I mean the salad part is pretty basic (mixed greens, pomegranate dressing, walnuts, dried cranberries, chicken breast), but the highlight was going to be on the fried goat cheese rounds (rather than just crumbling goat cheese on top). I have eaten these before and even seen them prepared, so I had the misconception that 1) it was easy and 2) it did not require any kind of research beforehand. I figured I would simply wing it. I failed pretty miserably. They tasted quite nice on the salad, but they were a disaster to try and make. 

What I tried to do was cut the goat cheese into rounds (like medallions) and coat them in a mixture of panko, flour, parsley, salt, pepper and bread crumb. I pressed the rounds into the mixture for full coverage, then put them in the freezer so they were nice and firm. Meanwhile, I heated some Canola oil (shallow) over high heat. I thought I could fry them on each side very quickly and create a nice golden crust. Buuuutttt, I just melted the cheese and made a huge mess in the pan. I scraped out the cheese best I could, drained it on a paper towel and let it cool. Again, they tasted good, but were more like fried goat cheese blobs than the pretty golden crusted medallions I had envisioned! 

Homemade Baked Beans

I got this recipe out of Real Simple (June '11). I was feeling the pull of the perfunctory summer fare: hot dogs. I usually make baked beans over the stove and use canned white beans, but this called for a totally from scratch method so I figured I would try it. The high level summary is they were good but totally not worth the time and effort required, particularly when you have a 2 yr-old and are trying to get dinner on the table on time (which incidentally did not happen).

Homemade Baked Beans

4 oz sliced bacon, cut into 1/2" pieces

1 onion, chopped

salt and pepper

1 pound dried navy beans (soaked in water OVERNIGHT and drained)

1/2 cup molasses

1/4 cup ketchup

1 T dry mustard

2 T cider vinegar

Heat oven to 300 deg F. Cook the bacon in a Dutch oven over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until nearly crisp (5-7 minutes). Add the onion and season with salt and pepper, stirring occasionally, until onions are soft.

Add the beans, molasses, ketchup, mustard and 5 cups of water to the Dutch oven and stir to combine; bring to a boil. Cover pot and transfer to oven. Bake until liquid is reduced by half, about 2 1/2 hours. Uncover and bake, stirring once, until the cooking liquid is thickened, about 1-1 1/4 hours MORE. Stir in the vinegar and serve. WHEW.