Taste: rich, complex, sweet and acidic, aromatic from the bay leaf and the herbs, tomatoey, good bit of fat from the pork, the eggplant also lends the quality of fat from the texture of its meat, starchy from the potatoes which balance out the acidity and intensity of the filling and keep it from being overwhelming, the crust is mellow and creamy and more about texture and balance than flavor.
You will need:
- a can of crushed tomatoes (the fire-roasted ones are super yummy)
- tomato paste
- ground pork
- a few roasting potatoes
- an eggplant, or two, depending on how much you’re making, you want the balance of potatoes to eggplants to be about even
- a couple of bay leaves
- Greek oregano or summer savory
- crushed red pepper
- chopped onion
- minced garlic
- yogurt
- flour
- 1 egg
- salt and pepper
- olive oil
The day ahead you’ll want to take the eggplant and slice it into 1/2 inch thick pieces and salt it well to leach as much liquid out as you can, just layer it in a container and leave it in the fridge overnight. When you take it back out rinse the salt off and pat it dry then slice it into smaller pieces for cooking. (It wont be the end of the world if you don’t do this, you can use the eggplant as is, but it wont absorb as much flavor from the dish.)
In a wide skillet (not non-stick) pour some oil and add the eggplant, leaving it alone for a little while so the pieces can brown properly, stir only a few times, it will smell slightly nutty when it starts to brown. Don’t worry about cooking it through, you’re just trying to pull out the flavor. Set it aside, you can leave it in the pan.
Peel and chop the potatoes into even sized pieces, so that they will cook evenly.
Preheat the oven to 350 or thereabouts.
Saute the onion and garlic in a medium saucepan along with the bayleaf, some salt and the crushed red pepper, you want the onion to soften, not brown. Once it’s translucent, add the pork and break it apart well and integrate with the onion. Let the meat brown before adding the tomatoes and the tomato paste, you might have to dissolve that in a bit of water first to make sure it integrates well. Let it simmer for a bit, add the dried herbs, then taste it and see if it needs more salt or pepper, or maybe something else I haven’t thought of. You want some of the liquid to evaporate, so that it has the consistence of a hearty meat sauce.
Coat the bottom of the a casserole dish with oil and then layer potatoes, filling, eggplant, filling potatoes, filling, etc., You’ll want to end with either eggplant or potatoes on top, and hopefully an inch or so of room to the top.
Put it in the oven, you may want to put a cookie sheet underneath in case some drips. Cook it for about 35 mins, keep your eyes and nose on it form time to time, you can poke at a potato to see if it’s soft enough to crush with a fork, once the potatoes are tender, its time for the crust.
Mix together the yogurt, the egg and the flour, add the baking soda last (Don’t do this until you’re ready to use it.) You’ll want about a teaspoon of baking soda, it will interact with the acidity of the yogurt and make the crust nice and fluffy. Pour the mixture over the top of the moussaka and put it back in the oven. It will turn a golden brown in about 15 or so minutes, depending on the balance of flour to liquid, (you can play with this and make a more solid or more fluffy crust) I usually use about a cup of yogurt to a 3rd cup of flour and one egg.
Once the crust is golden brown pull the dish out of the oven and let it sit for 15 mins or so, then serve and enjoy!
note: I don’t like to give exact amounts because I never measure when I cook, and also because I think people should adjust the balance of a recipe according to their taste. In this case, use your common sense and if you want more potatoes, you can drop the eggplant altogether or use much less, you can make it super-saucy and meaty if you prefer, and you’ll end up with a much saucier dish which you might need to serve with bread, but if that’s what you like, that’s ok. You can even leave out the tomatoes, just increase the amount of meat and you’ll have a potato and meat dish, you’ll just need to add some water so that it doesn’t get too dry, but tomatoes are loaded with umami, so you’d be missing out!
Reprinted from UmamiTV
