In the last few years, I’ve grown to enjoy eggplant. One reason is I finally read about a critical preparation step – “sweating” the eggplant. The liquid in this vegetable is very bitter, so it’s essential to remove it. This is done by slicing two eggplants into 1/2″ discs and arranging them flat on paper towels after sprinkling with sea salt. After thirty minutes, flip them and continue to sweat them. That’s a lot of liquid, and now you’ll have tasty aubergine.
Although my typical recipe is eggplant parmesan (see my post of October 10, 2013), this weekend I decided to try Greek moussaka. After sweating, coat in olive oil and bake the slices on a cookie sheet at 425 degrees, 10 minutes on each side. Let cool. Dice an onion, three carrots, three stalks of celery, a half dozen button mushroom, some fresh garlic and two tomatoes. Sauté the vegetable dices in oil until tender, 10 minutes, and then add the mushroom, garlic and tomatoes. Sauté another ten minutes. Remove from heat.
Whisk together one cup of whole milk, 4 egg yolks, a quarter cup grated parmesan, a tablespoon of flour, one teaspoon cinnamon, one tablespoon dried oregano, salt and pepper. Pour over the sautéed vegetables and mix. Oil a small casserole dish. Place a layer of eggplant slices in the dish, pour over half the veggie mix, and repeat the process. Top with a half cup of grated parmesan, and bake at 350 degrees uncovered for 45-50 minutes, until the cheese is golden brown. I served the moussaka warm with scallops in brown butter sauce and home-made crusty bread.
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