Lazy Veggie Moussaka

I used to make eggplant parmesan. At some point, I lost the taste for it. I think the problem is that I'm not much of a tomato fan,  plus I got turned off by the incessant heartburn that comes with pregnancy and/or old age. I'll let you decide which category I fit into.

Details of my tomato aversion are in a previous blog dated 9/16/10 "You say tomato and I say bleeachhhhhhhhhhh.....".

I do not mind eggplant, and since Walmart curbside pickup sent two not one, and more zucchinis than I had ordered (a whole other blog), I tried a new recipe. It looks lengthy and complicated but it's not any worse than making lasagna. It's definitely more nutritious without all the pasta carbs, and just a bit of yummy fat.  Also, I learned that you need to be flexible, especially these days. So I bent over backwards...not easy at my age, and created this from what I had lying around the house...food items that is. Because I wanted to make it meatless, I looked up regular and vegetarian/vegan options. I combined ingredients and procedures that I found online, with my own ideas, then adapted and simplified the recipe because I'm lazy. It's a bit of a process, but not that difficult. It just has a few steps. Ingredients are in red letters. French terms are my attempt at chef-speak.

By the way, it was delicious. It can get a bit salty so be aware when adding this ingredient. Also,  please excuse my comments and asides. I can't seem to help myself.

***Fun Fact - I was curious as to what moussaka, a Greek word, means in English so I google translated it and you'll never believe it! In English, moussaka is....moussaka.

                                   
                                                      VEGGIE MOUSSAKA A LA HILDE

Prepare and set aside the following while preheating oven to 400 degrees.

2 medium eggplants partly peeled and sliced lengthwise
3 potatoes, peeled, sliced lengthwise
3 medium large zucchini sliced length wise. Put on paper towels on a baking sheet, sprinkle with salt, leave 30 minutes to remove liquid and bitterness, then dry off.

 When eggplant is dried, put all sliced veggies on olive oiled cookie sheets and bake 20 minutes at 400 degrees.

Bechamel Sauce  (can be prepared while eggplants are salted)

Equal amounts butter (or olive oil), and flour (approx. 1/2 cup of each)
salt/pepper to your taste
3 cups milk (warmed...essential)
1/4 tsp. nutmeg

Instructions - In a large saucepan, melt butter or heat olive oil depending on your preference. Be careful not to burn. Stir in flour, salt, pepper. Stir with wooden spoon to create a roux. I think a roux is a fancy french cooking term for a combined lump of flour and melted butter. (see pic) Using a whisk, gradually add warm milk, whisking to prevent lumps. Continue cooking until slightly thickened, stirring with wooden spoon again. Add nutmeg.

Cover pot in wax paper to prevent layer of skin from forming. I put a lid on top of waxed paper. You can probably use plastic wrap or paper towels but I can't promise you'll remain skinless.

 
Lentil Sauce

Make this when veggies are roasting in oven.

Lentils  I used a normal sized can of green ones, drained and rinsed. They were nice and small. Buying dry, soaking, cooking etc. is too much work. I feel like black beans would work in this recipe as well, but haven't experimented yet.
1 medium onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 can crushed tomatoes - I used flavoured "Aylmer Accents" (made in Canada),
because I like it better...whole undrained can. No, they don't pay me for my endorsement.                                      ***Note to self - look into getting paid.
1/2 cup broth or water (if you want)
1 tsp. dry oregano
1/2 tsp nutmeg
pinch cinnamon
olive oil tablespoonish

Instructions - In a decent sized pan, saute (French for fry 'em up gently) onions and garlic in olive oil for a few minutes until it smells good. Add lentils, tomatoes or accents, broth or water (I didn't add any because I left the liquid from the canned tomatoes in there), and spices. Simmer for about 20 minutes.

Assembly - the fun part

I used a 9x13" casserole type baking dish. I know this for a fact because during covid isolation boredom, I decided to measure all my pans and write the sizes on the bottom with permanent marker.

Covid Query - Why are baking pans measured in imperial and not metric? Could it be so that they can bake in a Fahrenheit oven?

Pour half lentil sauce in the bottom of pan (hopefully it's not too runny...mine wasn't).  Layer the veggies in an order of your choice. At this point, if you want but not essential, you can toss a few specks of some kind of  grated cheese between the layers. I did, although I didn't use much. I just had a brief flashback remembering eggplant parmesan and the veggies looked a bit naked.

Pour remaining lentil sauce. Cover entire casserole with bechamel sauce and smooth it out. I hate wrinkly sauce don't you? The photo was taken mid smooth.
Bake in middle oven rack, still 400 degrees for about 45 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from heat and let stand for 20 minutes or so. I covered it loosely with foil to keep it hot. Cut into squares. Here's mine, right out of the oven.

Refrigerate leftovers for up to 3 days, I hope, because we're having them today after 3 days.

Vegetarians, Anchovies and Other Fairly Odd Creatures...

I like spending time visiting with my son and daughter. We sometimes get together and gab over lunch. This requires that the menu have some form of meatless offering. They are indeed vegetarians.

I don't remember the precise moment of my daughter's decision. Perhaps it wasn't a conscious choice and she was born with this preference. When she was about three, "the girl" as I fondly call her, used to avoid and sometimes hide meat in the far recesses of her mouth. One day, we came home after enjoying a fine meal at grandma and grandpa's. At bedtime, I noticed an odd looking bulge on her cheek. I asked her to say "ahhhh" while I removed a wad of what appeared to be chicken from inside her jaw. It had been there for several hours. Jokingly, I asked her if she was pretending to be a chipmunk. She answered, "No, I'm just saving it".

Around the age of 12, "the girl" announced that she was now a vegetarian. At first, her pubescent decision did not include the anchovies on her Caesar salad, because as she said "obviously, anchovies are vegetables." Apparently, as long as our human brains are not developed enough to have a clear mental image to accompany some words, those words can be whatever we decide to make them. Even at my mature age, I still have no idea what an anchovy actually looks like, although I am comfortable with the fact that it's some kind of salty little fish whose existence on earth is essential for use in fine dining establishments and all pizza parlours. After all, how else could people order their pizza without anchovies?

Some time later, I heard the criteria for vegetarianism. It involved giggling and guffawing, spitting and chortling. Although he denied it, this was probably the original reason my son, "the boy" joined "the girl" in her choice.

Apparently, in order to be a vegetarian, one needs to follow the two "F's" of vegetarianism.

Their greatest pleasure was derived when a forgetful grandpa would ask why they weren't eating some of their Mennonite grandma's wonderful cooking, specifically the capon. "Grandpa, we don't eat things that have a face or fart", they'd repeat in unison. Then, as always, they'd laugh and laugh at grandpa's expression of shock as if he'd heard this for the first time.

Accommodating the grass eaters was more than a little challenging. As a single parent, I already had enough on my plate so to speak and sometimes, we didn't have nearly enough on our plates. I wanted to ensure that they were properly nourished so I sought out meals that were quick and would take care of their basic needs. Kraft dinner and a side of vegetables became a staple. Omelettes, cauliflower pancakes, pizza without anchovies and beans were easy choices. Fortunately, the teens hadn't become vegan extremists.

I turned into the queen of tofu. I often made tofu chili, tofu tacos, tofu shepherd's pie, tofu tortes and tofu tarts. It's amazing what you can create with that brown tofu ground round.

Eventually, as they became older and reached their bottomless pit years, I gave up cooking and let them fend for themselves. They seemed fine with a freezer full of tv dinners and veggie wieners and a cupboard containing vats of peanut butter, assorted breads, nuts, snacks and plenty of vitamins.

Thanksgiving meals included Tofurkey. Costly, odd, but manageable once in awhile. In more recent years, I've been making their favourite tofu tourtière instead. I even found a way to amuse myself when creating the upper pie crust. The truth is, I take evil joy in doing this, kind of my pathetic effort at exacting some form of revenge or making a statement of my own.

So what is it that I do? I always fashion a small turkey from the leftover dough and plunk it smack dab into the centre of their tofu meat pie, making certain that it has a cute little face.

***Author note - Some of this may be exaggerated for effect. The youngin's version of why they became vegetarians is because they saw a documentary on t.v. about chicken farming. Same result. Oddly enough, my daughter has recently taken to eating fish once again. Do fish not satisfy the double F criteria?