Here in Israel, moussaka has taken a bum rap. I think it’s because wedding caterers offer a dish by this name constructed with fried and breaded eggplant and bread crumbs mixed with a microscopic amount of meat, so little in fact that can wonder if this dish is truely fleishig.
I personally never touch the stuff. I make it a point to eat as little as possible at weddings. First of all the meal is served way to late-anyone who is concerned about keeping their weight down knows that it’s a big no no to eat a heavy meal after 7 pm. Amazingly, it’s best to sup at five, like a small child in a nursery and wedding meals dont’ follow that schedule.
But homemade Moussake is another matter entirely. I wasn’t really planning it as a supper-anyone who reads my blog knows that advance meal planning is not my strong suit but I found myself alone with two eggplants, a package of ground beef and some tomato paste and crushed tomatoes plus onions and garlic and no desire to go out and replenish my rather depleted pantry. The really amazing thing about this story is that the day in question was Sunday when I’m usually overloaded with leftovers from the previous Shabbat. What happenened here is that on Saturday night my kitchen my sons came home from a spiritually uplifting but nutritionally inadequate Shabbos in the holy town of Meiron and they turned my leftovers, which I had imagined might be Sunday night’s and even Monday night’s dinner into their Melave Malka, the post Sabbath feast in memory of King David.
That meant that on Sunday I had to start again and so necessity always being the mother of invention I made a moussaka. Most moussaka recipes are rather rich and fatttening. They involve steps like sauteeing the eggplant-boy do those babies suck up oil, and dousing the whole dish with a bechamel sauce. While I don’t doubt that those steps are fine on the tastebuds, though not so fine for the digestion, I streamlined. In this recipe, the eggplants are baked and the bechamel, well lets’ just say it’s gone South for the winter.
This does mean a rather stripped down version of the ancient Turkish meat eggplant casserole but my test eaters aka my husband and sons gobbled up the results. What can I say? This recipe is hearty, and tasty and a departure from the ordinary. Enjoy
1-2 medium sized onions, diced
2 T vegetable oil
1 or more cloves or garlic,peeled and diced
1 handful of cilantro (optional) chopped fine
250 grams of tomato paste
400 grams of crushed tomatoes
About one and one half cups of water
Spices to taste. Salt, black pepper, a pinch of sugar, cumin, even a pinch of cinnamon.
1 large eggplant sliced into half inch thick rounds (they can be slightly thicker)
Olive oil
Cooking spray
2 lbs ground beef
Cut the eggplant crosswise into thin round slices (about 1/2 inch thickness,) sprinkle with kosher salt and sweat for an hour or more to remove the bitter juices.
Place eggplant on an oiled cookie sheet (sprinke 1 to 2 tablespoons of olive oil on a cookie sheet, then spread with a pastry brush and place eggplant on top in a single layer. Bake at 420 or until soft-they don’t need to be brown, just softened (about 30 minutes).
While the eggplants are baking saute the onion in the oil until translucent. Add garlic and meat. Saute until the meat is crumbly. Then add tomato paste, crushed tomatoes cilantro, water and spices. Simmer together until bubbly (about 10 minutes)
Spray a 9 by 13 or 8 by 8 cooking pan (pyrex is fine). Layer eggplant and meat tomato mixture, eggplant, meat tomato until you’ve finished . Cover with foil. Bake at 350 for a half hour.