Baked Eggplant Stuffed with Moussaka

Moussaka has come to be known as THE quintessential Greek signature dish. And while it's very popular in Greece, there are many food historians who believe its origins date much further back than the 1920s when Nicholas Tselementes popularized the dish. We're talking the 13th century and the middle east, here.

In my world,my introduction to Moussaka was when I was a kid. My dad was the original foodie in my life and he always attracted people who liked to feed him (my mother and Nana Ida included). My dad, and ultimately I, was introduced to Greek food because my father worked in an area of Newark, NJ called 'down neck' or the iron bound section. A Greek guy named Tommy owned a diner (I know, shocker, Greek guy -- diner) near where dad worked. Anyway, like every other cook my dad ever met, Tommy took a liking to him and would send him home with all sorts of stuff, and Moussaka was among them. Even better was the fact that unlike some of my Italian great aunts, Tommy actually shared his recipes. What I prepared here is based on the recipe he gave my dad in the 1970s.

Traditionally, the dish is a layered combination of eggplant and Bolognese type sauce, topped with a layer of  béchamel and baked until golden and bubbly. One day after coming home with a couple of eggplants, I decided to play around with a variation. I do this all the time, I'm in the produce section, I see beautiful eggplants, I buy a couple and then once I'm home, I look at them and think, "What the hell was I thinking, I don't feel like frying eggplant", and then I get creative. As I type this post, there are two in my fridge waiting for some inspiration, but I digress.....

Anyway a while back, I purchased some locally raised Italian sausage meat at the farmer's market and between that and these 2 large eggplants, decided on a Moussaka inspired dish.

The first order of business was to prep the eggplants. I used a grapefruit knife with the little bend at the end to score the perimeter of the eggplant halves leaving about 1/2" of flesh in tact. Then with a fork and later a spoon, scraped out the remaining flesh and chopped it into a course dice.

For the sauce or filling in this case, I sauteed the sausage meat, some mushrooms, garlic, and onions with some fresh diced tomatoes and later added some canned diced tomatoes. I cooked that down until it was nice and thick. Traditional Greek style bechamel incorporates egg yolks, so I followed suit there. Note that I keep egg yolk powder on hand for this type of use (it helps get me out of the rabbit hole instead of finding uses for the leftover egg whites). You simply mix the powder with water, milk or another complimentary liquid to get the yolks in the consistency you like. In this case I mad them on the thicker side. After making the roux and adding the milk, I removed the sauce from the heat to whisk in the yolks and seasonings.

Another variation I made from the traditional recipe is to include some shredded smoked mozzarella when I assembled the stuffed halves.

I like to gather all my ingredients when doing this kind of experimental assembly. once I did, in this case, I thought it might be a good idea to put some of the cheese in the eggplant halves before the filling. I'm not really sure why, but is seemed like a good idea and a way to stabilize the high water content in eggplant.

After a layer of shredded cheese in each eggplant half, (reserving about 1/2 cup), I divided the filling among them, added the bechamel on top and, after spreading it out, sprinkled on the remaining cheese.

Then it was into the oven at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. I kept the baking pan covered for the first half hour and then uncovered to let the tops get toasty.

THE RECIPE:

2 large eggplants cut in half lengthwise with the flesh scrapped out and chopped.

1 pound of -- in this case -- sausage meat. (beef, pork or lamb will work)

1C of chopped onion

3 cloves garlic sliced

1C chopped mushrooms

1C fresh tomatoes chopped (if you have them or otherwise increase the canned tomatoes)

1 can diced tomatoes

1/2C red wine

1/2t cinnamon

2-1/2C shredded cheese (I used smoked mozzarella)

1C whole milk

2T unsalted butter

2-3T flour

Salt and pepper to taste

Dash of Nutmeg

Dash of paprika

1 to 2 large egg yolks (lightly beaten)

In a large skillet cook the meat, chopped eggplant, garlic, onions, tomatoes, mushrooms, and red wine until thickened. Stir in the cinnamon and set aside.

For the bechamel, make a roux by melting the butter and whisking in the flour until it begins to turn a light golden color. Whisk in the milk until smooth and remove from heat. Whisk in the beaten egg yolks until completely combined and stir in the salt, pepper, nutmeg and paprika. Because I was mixing the powdered eggs, I actually added the salt and pepper to that mix and then just added the nutmeg and paprika at the end.

To assemble, layer about 1/2 cup of cheese to line the bottom of each eggplant half. Divide the filling between the halves. Top each with 1/4 of the bechamel and sprinkle with the remaining cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. I covered it for the first 30 and then let it finish uncovered to brown the toppings.

Eggplant stuffed with Moussaka