discovering you and discovering me

we started our Greek discovery week with some tasty oikos Greek yogurt with honey. as you can see the kids thought it was yummy.

q was sucking his out of the container. he ate almost the whole container.

her heiness felt the need to pose for her picture. she too inhaled hers.


monkey ate hers slowly, she really seemed to enjoy it.

we had some shopping left to do today in the big city, so we didn't get to study anything cool today other than how to not make your parents completely crazy. our meal for supper was moussaka. i had never had it before this evening, but how can you go wrong with eggplant, meat sauce, and cheese sauce. i found my recipe in the recipe encyclopedia. it is an awesome cookbook my sister bought me several years ago for my birthday.

MOUSSAKA

preparation time: 20 minutes + 1 hour standing

total cooking time: 1 hour + 45 minutes

serves 6

3 medium eggplants
1 Tablespoon salt

1/2 cup olive oil

MEAT SAUCE

2 Tablespoons olive oil

1 large onion, finely chopped

1 pound ground beef

2 Tablespoons dry white wine

13 1/2 ounce can of tomato puree
1 Tablespoon finely chopped flat leaf parsley

2 teaspoons finely chopped mint leaves

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper

CHEESE SAUCE

1/3 cup butter

1/3 cup flour

2 cups milk

2 eggs, lightly beaten

2/3 cup grated Romano cheese

1. cut unpeeled eggplant into 1/2 inch slices. sprinkle both sides with salt; stand in a colander for 1 hour. rinse in cold water, drain well. squeeze out excess moisture wit paper towels.

2. TO MAKE MEAT SAUCE: heat the oil in a pan. add the onion and ground beef. stir over high heat 10 minutes or until well browned and all the liquid has evaporated. add the wine, tomato puree, herbs, cinnamon and pepper; bring to a boil. reduce heat, simmer, covered, 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. remove lid and simmer 10 minutes.

3. TO MAKE CHEESE SAUCE: heat butter in small pan; add flour. stir over low heat for 2 minutes. add milk gradually to pan, stirring until smooth. stir over medium heat for 5 minutes or until mixture boils and thickens. cook for 1 minute; remove pan from heat. add eggs and cheese, beat until smooth.

4. preheat oven to 350 degrees. heat the oil in a heavy-bottom pan. cook the eggplant a few slices t a time until golden;; remove from pan, drain on paper towels. divide the eggplant into three. arrange one portion over the base of a shallow oven proof dish. spread with half the meat sauce, add a second layer of eggplant, then the remaining meat sauce and eggplant. spread cheese sauce over the top layer of eggplant. bake for 45 minutes or until golden. leave in dish for 5 minutes before serving.

that's what it looked like before i scarfed it down. i recommend beginning the sauces immediately after you put the eggplant to drain. it took me nearly the entire hour for the making of the sauces. i found the recipe for the baklava here. it was delicious. as i was making the syrup to pour over the baklava, i noticed that it smelled like roses. who knew? i hope you enjoy our first day in this adventure.