Greek Week: Day 3
I made this Vegetarian Moussaka (Greek Lasagna) for Day 3 of our Greek Week experiment. It did NOT disappoint, but WOW, talk about time intensive!! For this mama of 2 young boys who always opts for quick, easy and nutritious recipes, it is just not practical to spend 2 hours working on dinner (NO THANK YOU!) It was fun to make and I am happy the boys napped the whole time, but this dish would be best served at a special occasion, not as a week night meal. I felt like I should be wearing a dress with pearls when my husband walked in the door (ie Joan Cleaver) haha!!
I will say that I WILL make this again and probably not opt for an easy version of it because I know that this classic recipe is typically a time-intensive dish that takes a lot of care and steps – plus, the flavor was robust with all of these tasty ingredients and our home smelled like a Greek restaurant! OPA!
The Greek appreciated my efforts today and gave the dinner a thumbs up for taste, too. 🙂 I decided to add it to my blog because I am proud of it. Proud that I made a very authentic Greek recipe Fix Friendly. It is very healthy and was a very hearty meal and now I can cross that off of my ‘need to try that’ list. I was definitely stepping out of my comfort zone with this one – and I am really happy I did!
- 3 peeled eggplants, cut into 1/2 inch slices
- 2 T olive oil, divided
- Cooking Spray
- 1 large yellow onion, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 cup uncooked bulgur
- 1/4 tsp ground allspice
- 1/8 -1/4 tsp ground cinnamon (I used 1/8)
- 1/8 tsp ground cloves
- 2 cups vegetable broth
- 1 T dried oregano
- 1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes, undrained
- 1 T butter
- 2 T almond flour
- 1 cup 2% low fat milk
- 2 T shredded Italian or grated Romano cheese
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 1 large egg, lightly beaten
- Preheat broiler to high
- Brush eggplant slices with olive oil. Place half of the slices on a foil-lined baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Broil on top rack for 5 minutes on each side or until browned. Repeat with the other half of the eggplant slices. Set aside.
- Heat 12" skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1T olive oil to coat pan. Add chopped onion, saute 8 minutes. Add garlic, saute 1 minute. Add bulgur, cook 3 minutes, stirring frequently. Add allspice, cinnamon & cloves, cook 1 minute while stirring. Stir in vegetable broth, oregano & tomatoes. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes, until thickened, stir occasionally.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In small sauce pan, melt butter over medium heat. Add flour, stirring for a minute with a whisk. Gradually add milk while whisking. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low and simmer 5 minutes until thickened, whisking frequently. Stir in cheese & salt. Remove from heat to cool. Add egg and mix well.
- Arrange half eggplant into greased 11x7 glass baking dish. Add a layer of the bulgur mixture, layer of eggplant and the rest of the bulgur mixture and then pour the milk mixture over top.
- Bake at 350 for 40 minutes. Remove from oven. Increase oven to 476, bake for 4 minutes until top is browned. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.
- Serving: 1/6 of the pan
- 1.5 Green, 1 Yellow, 1/2 blue, 1 spoon