A sort of Greek fridge clean out

So, faced with the task of creating dinner from the remnants of the fridge and freezer and realising that I actually had a lot of good stuff in there, I set about making a moussaka - like dish.

'Moussaka'

1 onion, sliced

1 zucchini, sliced

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

Fry in 1 tbsp olive oil and 1 tsp butter until soft but not browned.

8 Heirloom tomatoes

1 chili, sliced

Place the tomatoes and chili into a heavy pan with a little oil and cook gently for around 30 minutes until soft and sauce like. I added 1 tsp Balsamic vinegar, 1/2 tsp salt, black pepper and a large handful of mixed greens.

I added the zucchini, onion and garlic mixture to the sauce. To give a true Greek taste, I also added 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp nutmeg and 1 tsp dried oregano.

I had 2 sirloin beef steaks in the freezer which I defrosted, ground in the food processor and fried with 1 tsp steak seasoning, 1 tsp of Worcestershire sauce, 1 tsp paprika and 1 tsp oregano. Once nicely browned and crispy, I added this to the sauce.

Before I started making the sauce, I sliced 3 small eggplants into thin slices and placed them onto a colander, sprinkled with salt. They were then left for 30 minutes for the salt to remove some of the bitterness.

These were then fried in olive oil until soft on both sides.

So, I began to assemble the dish.

First, half of the meat sauce, then the layer of eggplants, followed by the other half of the sauce and then the topping.

The topping truly was a hybrid mish-mash of things I found in the fridge that seemed suitable for the task.

3 tbsp Philadelphia cheese

3 tbsp plain yogurt

3 tbsp sour cream

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup grated cheddar

The cream cheese, yogurt and sour cream were mixed together with a little salt and pepper and the Parmesan cheese. This was spread over the top meat layer and then sprinkled with the cheddar cheese. As a last minute moment of madness, I cracked two raw eggs onto the top, sprinkled with paprika and baked for 30 minutes at 375oF

The topping melted into the layers below to create a nice sauce and consistency. The eggs created a nice baked taste and the whole thing was very good. Usually I would use ricotta and feta in place of the Philadelphia which are slightly firmer and retain a nice savoury custard style topping.

Also, ground lamb would be more authentic and a white Bechamel would be used to bring the whole thing together. However, this was an adaptation.

The next day, for lunch, this was equally as good with the purple colour of the eggplant creating a nice colourful purple hue to some of the white topping.