Moussaka

Moussaka is like a revelation for me. Whenever I'd go to a Greek restaurant or one of the yearly festivals, Moussaka was the dish I always skipped. With the ground meat and eggplantiness (new word!), it didn't seem all the interesting. I'm not a big fan of ground meat in general, I guess. Recently I was at the grocery store with the husband and he suggested we make it for dinner. He must have caught me at a weak moment so I agreed. OH MY EGGPLANT! I couldn't believe how the seemingly innocuous flavors melded into a truly magnificent meal. The sum is not equal to it's parts.

This dish can be made with either ground lamb or ground beef. I chose lamb. Where the recipe calls for bread crumbs I used Panko. This is more of a weekend type meal in the way lasagna might be. There are three different layers to prepare. Also, do not skip on the simmering of the meat sauce, it's where the true magic happens. I an a convert!

Ingredients
EGGPLANT
2 large eggplants (about 2 3/4 pounds), unpeeled and cut lengthwise into 1/2-inch slices
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
MEAT SAUCE
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 medium yellow onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound ground beef
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
Pinch of ground cloves
1 cinnamon stick, broken in half
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus to taste
Freshly ground pepper
1 1/2 cups whole, peeled, canned tomatoes (with puree), roughly chopped
1 bay leaf
CUSTARD SAUCE
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 cups whole milk, room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
Pinch of ground nutmeg
1 large egg
2 large egg yolks
1/2 cup dried breadcrumbs
3 tablespoons Pecorino Romano (or parm)
Directions
Bake the eggplant: Preheat the oven to 475 degrees F. Brush the eggplant slices on both sides with the oil and lay on 2 small or 1 large foil-lined baking sheet. Season with salt and pepper. Cover with foil and bake until the eggplant is soft, about 25 minutes. Set aside covered.
Make the meat sauce. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring with a wooden spoon, until lightly browned, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the beef, oregano, allspice, cloves, and cinnamon. Break the meat up into small pieces and season with the 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper to taste. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 2 minutes. Lower the heat to medium and cook, stirring, until just cooked but still slightly pink inside, about 1 minute more. Add the tomato and bay leaf and bring to a simmer. Cover, and cook until the sauce is thickened and fragrant, about 20 minutes.
Make the custard sauce. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in the flour until smooth. Cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Remove the pan from the heat and add the milk, salt, and nutmeg. Return to the heat and while whisking constantly, bring to a boil. Simmer 2 minutes. Transfer the sauce to a bowl and stir to cool. When the sauce is cool, whisk in the egg and yolks.
Assemble the moussaka. Lower the oven to 350 degrees F. Brush a 9 x 13 x 2-inch casserole dish with the oil. Scatter the breadcrumbs over the bottom of the pan. Lay half of the eggplant in the pan, overlapping the slices if needed. Cover with half of the meat sauce and smooth with a rubber spatula. Repeat with the remaining eggplant and meat sauce. Pour the custard sauce over the layered mixture and smooth with a rubber spatula. Sprinkle with the Pecorino Romano and bake, uncovered, until lightly browned and the custard is set, about 1 hour.
Remove the moussaka from the oven and let rest for 10 minutes. Use a slotted spoon or spatula to serve.

Chinese Style Roast Chicken

Seems like we are all searching for a new way to serve chicken. If you are tired of the regular Mediterranean inspired chicken dishes then this is the recipe for you. It was ever so simple and tasted totally different than anything I had made before. Other than the Chinese Five Spice blend, the other ingredients were ones I already had in my pantry or fridge. This recipe was also kid approved, so that's a bonus for me.

I served the chicken with Sesame Garlic Spinach and white rice. Left overs will be perfect, in my opinion, for Chinese chicken salad later in the week. It's like a trifecta: 1. easy, 2. kid friendly, 3. useful leftovers.

2 large garlic cloves - peeled and minced
2 tsp. salt
1 whole 5 lb. roaster chicken (or parts)
1 tbsp. freshly minced ginger
1 tbsp. fresh lemon juices
2 tbsp. peanut oil
1 tsp. Chinese five-spice powder
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes (omitted for spice sensitive kids)
2 tbsp. toasted white sesame seeds

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Remove any livers, gizzards or hearts from the cavity of the chicken. Remove any fat deposits from inside the tail end or neck area.
In a food processor, pulse together the garlic, oil, lemon juice, salt, red pepper flakes, five-spice powder and ginger to form a paste. Fold the sesame seeds into the paste.
Rub the paste all over the chicken, inside and out.
Roast for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until cooked through.

Mee Goreng

(note: pic taken from tinypic.com, as i forgot to take pictures!)

I bet half of you read the title and thought "what the heck is that?" C'mon, admit it.

When I lived in Los Angeles there was a fabulous Malaysian booth at the Fairfax Farmer's Market. In this context "Farmer's Market" is a year round stationary market. They are open every day, except holidays. Until I tried the food at this booth I couldn't have told you what Malaysian food was like. Well, maybe I still can't, but generally its a mixture of Indian and Asian influences.

Mee Goreng is a fabulous introduction to a new cuisine. It's super fast and very flavorful. It's also very versatile for varying food needs. One could use tofu and vegetable stock instead of the shrimp and chicken stock, respectively. The spice (heat) can be added after the fact so it's a great dish to serve to kids who don't like spicy food, but can be revved up for the mature palate.

Ingredients:
1 onion, sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbs oyster sauce
3 tbs curry powder
1/2 lb fresh prawns, cleaned and shelled
1 lb Noodles (you can used the instant noodles)
1 cup chicken stock
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup bean sprouts
1/2 red bell pepper, sliced for garnishing
1/2 cup oil

Optional : Sriracha (rooster) sauce for garnish to make it spicy, fresh tomato for garnish


Method:
Heat oil in wok and fry onions, garlic, oyster sauce, and curry powder until fragrant. Add prawns and chicken stock. Add beaten egg and let sit until it firms up. So not stir until it has firmed up. Bring to boil and add noodles. Fry until dry and remove from heat. Garnish with red pepper and bean sprouts and serve at once.

Perfect Pie or Quiche Dough

Seems like more than a few people claim that pie dough is difficult or impossible to perfect. Now that the holiday stress of pie-making is over, perhaps we can take a fresh look. Now that you don't have anybody to impress, expect perhaps your taste buds, things will seem less daunting?

Sometimes, no matter what you do, the pie dough will not turn out as desired. It's happened to me. Usually I eat it anyway. Never let a pie go to waste.

I use my dough recipe to make sweets like pies and tarts, but I also use it for quiches, Cornish pasties, and sausage rolls. None of this is low fat, mind you. I usually pull them out for special occasions, potlucks, and the like. Sometimes because it's a Tuesday, and I need pie. We all have our moments.



Make sure your butter is fresh from the fridge. Set up everything first before taking it out of the fridge. If you are cooking on a particularly hot day, you can stick the Cuisinart bowl, blade, and ice water in the fridge for half an hour for maximum chill.

In a food processor, like a Cuisinart, blade attachment.

2 cups all purpose flour
2 sticks chilled butter
1/2 cup ice water
pinch of salt

Pulse flour and butter in food processor until butter disappears. While processor is on, slowly drizzle water in until dough forms one large ball. Remove from processor and chill dough for at least 30 minutes. This recipe will yield one top and one bottom, or two bottoms, depending on the type of pie you are making. Get your mind out of the gutter.

There many different modification that this dough can take.

-You can substitute shortening for half the butter. Some feel this yields a flakier crust.
- If you are cooking with tart fruit, 1/4 cup sugar can be added to the dough.
- you can sub 1/2 cup of the flour of buckwheat, whole wheat, or some other type of flour. I would not do more than 1/2 cup, though.

Chicken and Dumplings

Due to an inside joke I cannot quite convey, I have be intrigued with Chicken and Dumplings. Let it be know I am a English girl by heritage and thusly, never before experienced this truly southern American meal. Chicken and dumplings reminds me of Paula Deen in all it's delicious richness. Ms. Deen is not shy when it comes high calorie meals, to put it gently, so I was expecting a very fattie dish. No so! Another myth dispelled :YOU DO NOT HAVE TO USE CANNED CREAM SOUP. I heard it was true by a rather indelicate poster, but I have confirmed its veracity! You heard it here first.

If the soup does not meet the desired thickness and slurry of cornstarch and water can be added at the end, while boiling, to thicken it further.

Chicken & Dumplings

Ingredients:

for chicken soup
1 whole chicken, cut up
3 ribs of celery
2 carrots
1 cup onion, finely chopped
1 chicken bullion cube
2 teaspoons kosher salt (or to taste)
fresh ground pepper (ideally white pepper)
6 cups water
3 Tablespoons all-purpose flour

for dumplings
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
2 cups all-purpose flour
½ cup ice water
1 chicken bullion cube

Preparing chicken and stock
1) Rinse and dry chicken pieces. Season chicken with salt and pepper.
2) Heat 1 Tablespoon olive oil in a large pot. Place chicken skin-side down in hot oil (if won’t all fit on the bottom, but put as much in contact with the oil as possible).
3) Brown chicken 5 minutes.
4) Add water, carrots, celery and 1 bullion cube to pot (roughly break the celery and carrots, or chop, to fit). Bring to a boil.
5) Simmer 30 minutes on low heat.
6) Remove chicken from stock. Reserve chicken to cool.
7) Drain stock to a separate bowl (strain to remove carrots, celery, etc). Discard vegetables.
8) When stock has settled, spoon off all but 2 Tablespoons rendered chicken fat and discard (reserve the 2 T. chicken fat). Wipe pot clean
9) While stock is settling, prepare dumplings (see below).
10)Return 2 T. rendered chicken fat to the pot. Add onions and sauté 5 minutes until translucent.
11) Add 3 Tablespoons AP Flour to the pot and whisk vigorously to incorporate. Allow to brown slightly, then add stock to the pot. Bring to a boil.
12) Remove chicken from bones and roughly chop into 1 to 2 inch cubes.
13) Add cooked chicken to pot. Correct seasoning. Reduce heat to a simmer.
14) Add dumplings to pot and simmer for 10 minutes, or until cooked through.

Preparing dumplings
1) Place flour and bullion cube in a bowl. Break up bullion and mix to incorporate.
2) Cut butter into flour mix until mixture resembles course crumb.
3) Add water and mix with a wooden spoon. If needed, add additional water by droplets. Dough should just hold together.
4) Roll dough into a long rope, 1 inch in diameter. Cut into 1 inch segments.

Coming soon to a blog near you

Upcoming posts, in the works as this goes to press:

Chicken and Dumplings from scratch for my 2236 crew
Perfect pie dough
Refridgerator Rolls-keep dough up to 2 weeks!