Mary's Moussaka

[niki]

hey mary...this sounds great...thank you so much...........niki

[niki]

well,it took me more than 6 months to make mousaka,but this came out GREAT....i omitted the cinnamon(they don't cook food with cinnamon in the part of greece my parents come from) ...i used lean beef so i omitted the beef broth..i omitted the soy cheese and used a small amount of pecorino romano on top...roger always says that aged cheese is not really that bad in small amounts and i would definitely say that the amount one serving that i ate had was less than the blue cheese crumbles i could put on my salad(which i don't do).....
  it didn't taste like a substitute...it really tasted like mousaka...the butter beans with the grated cheese was delicious....now the next thing i'm going to make is pizza soup..that will be my first experiment with soy cheese...maybe once i've tried soy cheese with pizza soup,i'll try making mousaka and use soy mozarella instead of pecorino romano......i didn't see soy parmesan at fairway..although i don't like parmesan...i like romano better....and then after that,i'm going to make mary's shepherd's pie......thanks mary,you're awesome.....niki

[niki]

i'm telling you that i'm a person who's very set in her ways....i don't try a lot of new recipes...i'm used to the ones i know...i haven't tried ANY of the recipes with soy cheese.....i like the real thing and i really just thought they wouldn't be as good.....AND(check this out)i never made REAL mousaka.....,my mother used to make it....but when you make it the traditional way and fry the eggplant,it's harder to make than pastichou(which is what i do make)..this mousaka was delicious...and now eggplant is on sale this week for $.69/lb so i need to make something else with eggplant......ahah....i have all that soycheese that i bought for $2.99...i'll make eggplant parmigiana and freeze some of it...and i'll make eggplant chips too....
  it was at least 3 months before i started making your soybean stir fry(so i don't know WHY you're shocked)..and now i make that often....
  i'm a person who will try anything and there's hardly anything i don't like..BUT,when they're foods or spices i'm not really familiar with,i guess i'm reluctant to try to make something i've never really tasted...i ate in an indian restaurant once and pretty much liked everything i tried....but i guess not enough to cook it.....and not enough to go back....i guess i have a mediterranean palate.............but i like mexican,chinese,itallian and greek food the best...i thought i wouldn't like moroccan shrimp,but i watched you make it on tvland and it looked delicious....and up until now,i thought i wouldn't like the substitutes,but the pureed beans with the grated cheese baked in the oven was delicious...
  the highlight of my day at the ranch will be to come into the kitchen to see what you're cooking........niki

[Queenie]

I called my sister today and asked her if her in-laws put cinnamon in their moussaka & she said, "yes", so I'm going to give this a try.  It sounds FABULOUS!!

Niki,  Do you know what pastisto (sp?) is?  I know that there is NO WAY to make this LDL friendly because of the pasta in it, but my sister's father-in-law makes this all the time.

Carolyn

[niki]

ot
mousaka was never my favorite(although the ldl version i made yesterday really did come out great)....pasticcio or pastichou or pastitsio are all the same thing....in fact,i checked the spelling on a greek cuisine website and i saw it spelled pasticcio or pastitsio...bear in mind that greek has it's own alphabet so these are only phonetic....i would say the way i pronounce it is the village pronounciation.....i'm going to ask my father the next time i speak to him....
  pastichou and spanakopita are two of my specialties...i'm glad i got my aunt to show me how to make the dough for the spanakopita myself because that's become almost a lost art...there are some greeks that i've met that have never even eaten it....i grew up eating homemade pita.....spanakopita was the one i played with the idea of making out of chickpea flour...but there's NO ldl version of pastichou.....
  a lot of this stuff is regional...i don't know of ANYONE in my family that adds cinnamon to mousaka or pastichou....my parents come from a village in the northern part of greece,about 65 miles from thessaloniki called siatista...i would say that people from athens or the islands cook differently..........where are your sister's inlaws from?...............niki

[Queenie]

I think from Carpathos... I know that I posted it one time before, but ...

That "sometimers" disease kicking in again......

Carolyn

oh - and I've had his pastistso - he does use cinnamon & it is really good.

[niki]

you did.....i'm not surprised i forgot......i put it in the search engine and saw your post....BUT that was from july 1st...so that's more than FOUR MONTHS ago....
  i put "greek cuisine" on the internet search engine to check out different recipes....i think i found one recipe for pastitso(see,i'm flexible...i can spell it AND say it both ways)that had cinnamon in it...but most of the ones i saw didn't ...this surprised me because i'm under the impression that it's more commonly eaten with cinnamon in it..it's just that for me it's like putting mayonaise on a hamburger...i'm not used to it...so it doesn't sound appetizing....ACTUALLY,i don't really like cinnamon...i've gotten used to eating hot bananas and i use it on that AND i like it...but greeks put it on their rice pudding.....i HATE that.... 
  so you've eaten it and know you like it...so you can add it without worrying that you won't like it....let me know how it turns out.....................niki

[Queenie]

The jury is in here at my house- this recipe is definitely a KEEPER!!

FABULOUS, FABULOUS, FABULOUS TASTE!!  The meat mixture tasted exactly like my sister's in-laws fix - and I'll have to tell you - I'm not a big eggplant fan, but I LOVED this!!

I've eaten a lot of moussaka, and I'll have to say that this one is the best I've ever tasted...  Thanks so much, Mary. 

My daughter came over this evening & had a big slice of this - her comment was, "Mom, this is the BOMB!!"

Carolyn

[Queenie]

"DA BOMB"!!!  I think that might be their "joisey" accent!!  Or maybe that IS what she said...  LOL!!

Mary, my daughter comes over almost daily!  She only lives a half mile from me - one of my sons also lives just that far (different apartment complex, but the two are right next to each other) - my other son & his wife live about 5 miles from me.  Very nice for mama!!

I know you'll be happy to have all your chickens in the nest next week!!

Carolyn

[robnveronica]

No Queenie...."Da Bomb" is said even here in CA. It's the newest saying for "Fabulous", "Terriffic", "Wonderful" etc

[Queenie]

Shows you how much I know!!  LOL!!

Carolyn

[Queenie]

Made this again today - one word - a very emphatic - YUM!!!

Thanks again, Mary!!

Love, Carolyn

[LittlePrincess]

Little Mary,

I have a question..... could I make this with zuchinni?  Eggplant and me, we just don't get along.  *whispers softly*  I think it's SOOOOOO icky!  LOL

(In Faith)  Little Princess

[Queenie]

LP,

I'm not Little Mary, but YES - You can use zucchini!  I would roast it in the oven like Mary instructs with the eggplant.  I used to use zucchini all the time in lasagna, so I'm sure it would work with this.

Carolyn

[itsmimi]

Delicious dish.  Never having tried Greek food before, I wasn't sure if I was going to like mousakka or not.  I now know that I LOVE it!

Mimi

[itsmimi]

I saw somebody asking for a moussaka recipe on the boards.  I made this first last winter and have had it at least once or twice a month since then.  I LOVE it.

Mimi

[margo]

Thanks so much!  I'll make it tomorrow i think!

margo