Demi-Moussaka

The first time I came to Greece I was 15. We had a book- Greece on $5 a day, and maybe a let's go. Although this was not uncharted territory, there was a remoteness then, something exotic, something closer to the lost world captured by Robert McCabe than to now. The guidebook had all kinds of advice- one thing was that printed t-shirts, of literally anything- were the most welcome of gifts. 

There was a rich, fully realized culture- one of centuries instead of just decades like my own- but it remained for us, probably largely because of this, impenetrable. Even the cuisine was impenetrable- a tremendous variety of dishes, of cuisines within a cuisine, but we could not access them. We had moussaka, almost every night. I sometimes ordered a pepper steak, maybe on the menu for French people?- to add some variety, if not authenticity. 

You shouldn't think we didn't eat well- we had strained yogurt with honey every morning, melons and nectarines, the juiciest tomatoes, and I at least had a couple of chokofreta every day- the package, unchanged, reminds me still of wandering around Kos in the shade while my parents sketched. The kiosk kept them in the refrigerator next to little bottles of bold cloudy lemon soda that was nothing like the virginal 7 - Up I grew up drinking. Crisp, airy, not too sweet, there is no finer candy bar than a cold chocofreta in the shade.

But it was years, actually decades, before I would order a moussaka, and still more years before I would make one. 

In truth, despite the forced start, this is one of my favorite dishes- all the comfort of red sauce Italian with the sweet exotic spices of the east, a thick layer of puffy bechamel, yielding eggplants. Assembled of slabs of fried potato, more slabs of salted, drained and fried eggplant, a long- simmered sauce, and the bechamel, and the layering of everything and the baking, it takes all day to make. The last time I made one was for a dinner- the "composed dish" was much praised.

The flavors and texture are captured in this very approachable shortcut. We dispense with the deep frying (don't worry at all- the dish is lush with oil), and alas with the potatoes too (I have tried roasting them but it is not the same as those golden, fried slabs). 

For a nice large dish, we will need:

6 eggplants

lots of olive oil

For the filling:

2 onions

2 cloves of garlic

500 g/ 1 lb. of ground beef

1 can of whole tomatoes, pureed in the blender (not sauce, not diced tomatoes- the richer flavor  is worth the step)

cinnamon

cloves

black pepper

a bay leaf

some strong red wine

For the bechamel sauce:

Scant liter/ 3 1/2 C whole milk

60 g/ 1/4 C butter

60 g/ 1/2 C flour

salt

nutmeg

2 eggs

This is a much easier dish to put together than classic Moussaka because we have just 2 hands-on things to do in succession. The eggplants will be taking care of themselves while we make the meat filling.

1. Slice the eggplants in half lengthwise and score them deeply end to end, concentrating on the tough area near the stem. Salt them like crazy and let the moisture seep out.

2. Chop the onions, saute them in olive oil, add the garlic, let it soften, then add the meat, salting it and seasoning with pepper, and let it brown, stirring occasionally. 

3. Rinse the eggplants, given them each a squeeze, and massage them with oil, making sure it goes into the slits and especially the stem end. Arrange them cut side up in rimmed dish and bake them at 170 C/ 350 F until they are quite soft and have collapsed a little- about half an hour, maybe 45 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, add wine to the browned meat- a small glassful, and the tomato, and a pinch of clove and a pinch of cinnamon and the bay leaf. Simmer until the oil floats free.

5. Stuff the eggplant halves with the meat.

6. Melt the butter, add the flour, and whisk over medium heat until it turns loose and puffy. Add the milk all at once, whisking fast and hard to break up any lumps, and keep whisking, bringing it  to a full boil- it will be thick and the whisk will leave lines in it. Taste and make sure it is silky with no flour texture on the tongue. season with salt and (gently) with nutmeg). Beat two eggs, temper them with a little sauce bit by bit, stirring all the while to not scramble the egg.

7. Pour the sauce over the eggplants. It would be nice to keep them separate with a tidy pool of sauce atop each one, but I have never been able to do this.

Bake until the top turns golden and blisters in one or two places. Since the components are warm, this will take just 20- 25 minutes.

Drink wine. 

Some other very simple Mediterranean dishes-

Briam- Roasted Ratatouille a la Greque-

Mussels with Ouzo in Spicy Red Sauce

Mediterranean Roast Chicken-