Pummaroò&Friends: Μουσακάς with Katerina!

When I met Katerina, I loved speaking about her wonderful country, its sea and beaches, its food and its smiling people.

Hello pummaroò friends!

Good quality, home cooked food is what we all need, so thank you Elvira for this recipe-sharing blog.

Today, I will share with you a dish that is a favourite for many in my home country, Cyprus. It's called mousaka. It is a dish that belongs to the Balkan-Mediterranean cuisine too. Here's my greek-cypriot version  of it!

It takes sometime to make, but it's delicious!

Ingredients for 4: 

1 big aubergine                                                                              

2 courgettes                                                                             

2-3 medium sized potatoes                                                     

1 medium sized onion
500 gr minced meat  (pork, beef or chicken)
2 tomatoes grated or tomato paste
oil
salt-pepper

For the béchamel sauce
oil                                                                                                                                                
3 tbs flour
2.5 cups of milk
1 egg yolk beaten
2 tbs grated cheese
salt-pepper

Wash and peel the aubergine and the potatoes. Wash the courgettes. Cut all the vegetables into slices (not very thick, nor very thin). Put a bit of salt on your sliced vegetables. Put a bit of oil in a big pan and start placing the vegetables on the surface of the pan. When they are cooked on one side turn then on the other. When fried on both sides put them in a plate, where you have placed two layers of absorbing kitchen paper,  so that it absorbs the oil. Do this until you have fried all the slices. Please note that, if you prefer,  you can cook the vegetables by putting them straight on the hot pan, without putting oil.

Once you have finished, preheat the oven to about 170-180°C.

Then, wash the minced meat and chop the onion. Put them in your pan with a bit of oil. When the meat gets a brown colour, add the grated tomatoes or the tomato paste. Cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally and until there is no or little liquid.

In a small oven dish (19x20cm) put the ingredients in layers as follows: potatoes, aubergines, half amount of minced meat, courgettes, rest of the meat.

On top of that you put béchamel sauce. How to prepare the béchamel sauce:

Heat the oil, add the flour and once it changes colour, pour in the milk slowly slowly. You stir constantly until you get a thick sauce. Then you turn out the fire and you add the egg yolk, grated cheese, salt and pepper to taste.

Put it in the oven for 30-40 minutes.

Enjoy!

Katerina

Involtini di melanzane

This is the perfect season to cook eggplants.

Let's start the first day of summer with a very simple appetizer for your sunny weekend brunch: the eggplant rolls.

1 big eggplant (for 8 small rolls)

300 gr peeled canned tomato

120 gr mozzarella

1 garlic clove, crushed

evo oil

fresh basil

Parmesan shavings

Heat extra virgin olive oil in a saucepan over mid heat with  the garlic cloved crushed, the canned tomato and the fresh basil, salt and stir for 10 min.

Cut the eggplant lengthwise into 0,5 cm slices, sprinkle the slices, both sides, with salt and let them in a colander with a weight on the top for 30 min. Rinse and dry.

Grill the slices. Roll up with a piece of mozzarella and serve with the warm tomato sauce on a big fresh basil leaf.

Garnish with the parmesan shavings. You could also spear wooden skewers into rolls to serve.

Insalata di farro

I am keen on grains! 

Spelt is sweet, fluffy but always nicely al dente. It's high in protein and fiber, a very good alternative to pasta and rice. I usually prepare it in salad with some fresh seasonal veggies or cooked like risotto.

This recipe is perfect to be cooked in advance and stored in the fridge. It could be a good suggestion to serve for a Sunday brunch!

200 gr spelt (serving 2 people)

1 eggplant

10 raw tomatoes (datterino or cherry)

200 gr cottage cheese

evo oil

salt

fresh basil

To cook the grain add a cup of water for every cup of spelt. Drain, add some evo oil and let it cool.

Set a non-stick skillet over high heat, add the eggplant diced. Toss constantly, let it browned then cool down.

In a bowl, slice the tomatoes, mix with the eggplants, the salt and the cottage cheese, fold the spelt in.

Serve with some fresh basil.