Even my mum is now following internet recipes for things that she has been doing for years ! Here is the link :http://www.lacuisinedebernard.com/2013/07/la-moussaka-grecque.html

Obviously there is a few small secrets…

She uses half-cooked potatoes as the first base layer for the Moussaka. On this particular occasion, we did 2, one with and one without the potatoes. The outcome is that it is definitely nicer with the layer of potatoes. You can see in picture 3 the layers, don’t be fooled by picture 1.

It is my understanding that the Moussaka with Potatoes is a Greek recipe whereas the one without is more Turkish.

UPDATE : (Original was 11th of August 2015!)

I have just tried to make this recipe and clearly my mum was not following that recipe at all…

Well, I am going to do the same and make my own version and see if it is any good. I am starting with a version without potatoes. It is a bit of work but it is well worth it!

Ingredients:

• 1kg of minced lamb.
• 2 Large or 3 small aubergines.
• 2 onions / 2 or 3 cloves of garlic.
• Tomatoes concentrate. (a small round pot thingy)
• A supermarket basket of large tomatoes
• Olive Oil / Butter / Salt / Pepper / Whole Nutmeg / Piment de l’espelette
• A large tray to go in the oven
• For the sauce Blanche : 0.8 to 1 Litre of milk / 100g flour / 1eggs / 50g butter / nutmeg / salt /pepper.

How to Make:

• I find that my “Le Creuset” pot is the best to cook this kind of dishes.
• I then assemble the ingredients in a large clay roasting tray to go in the oven
• Dice the onions and cook in the pot with a bit of butter, salt and pepper.
• Let them melt a bit and take some colour. Cook on medium not too harsh.
• During this time boil some water and put all the tomatoes in the boiling water for a couple of minutes. This will help to peel them easily.
• Cut the tomatoes in slices and remove all the wet bits, seeds, centre etc.
• Once the onions are cooked, transfer into a tray waiting for assembly.
• Wash and slice the aubergines through their short side to make round slices of various sizes.
• Cook them on medium heat in a bit of olive oil to give them colour and taste. This is a fairly long process that requires you to monitor the burning so that it is tasty but not burnt…my mum method is to use a roasting tray in the oven.
• Transfer half of the aubergines to the bottom of the cooking tray and then layer on top the tomatoes.
• Still in the same pot, cook the lamb on high with the crushed garlic, season with salt and pepper and grate half of a nutmeg. Add also a bit of Piment de l’Espelette or equivalent (sweet chilli peppers powder).
• Add the tomatoes concentrate to the meat and let the water evaporate as much as possible. The meat will take a bit of colour and the oils will separate.
• Transfer the meat onto the cooking tray making sure you drain the fat.
• Once all the meat is layered over the aubergines and tomatoes finish with the second half of aubergines to top the whole thing. (Aubergines/Tomatoes/Meat/Aubergines)
• Make one litre of sauce Blanche (this is not my usual Bechamel Sauce...and has eggs in it…not sure about this….:
  • In a 1.5L pot, melt the butter and mix the flour with a whisk, adding a bit of milk to make sure you do not make lumps.
  • Once you have a sort of paste, add the rest of the milk slowly to get a thick creamy liquid.
  • Take off the heat. whisk an egg with a bit of milk and then add to the mixture whisking everything well.
• Pour the sauce Blanche on the whole preparation
• Cook in the oven a 180 degrees celsius for 20 to 30 minutes.

This was very nice and the white sauce was great as well. All very moist and tasty.

Might have noticed the disaster of the burning of the le creuset pan….I tried everything to clean it and it was not coming off at all….been a complete mystery on how to take the stuff out and clean it properly. I bought at least 4 different products on amazon etc…baking soda, hydrogen peroxide, le creuset own brand cleaning product, boiling vinegar, magic sponge, overnight soak with dishwasher soap, boiling baking soda, etc…etc….etc…

I finally decide to simply put the pot into my oven during a full cycle of pyrolytic wash….was a bit afraid of destroying the whole thing but NO !! it worked brilliantly.

Simply had to wipe the ashes of the burned off stuff afterwards it was almost new.

Will now use this method on a yearly basis or something like that.

This was first posted on 20th September 2015.

I have made a few over the years and more recently have shared with some friends the current recipe so below is slightly updated process etc…they are still super nice!

It is very easy to do and a classic of a recipe that our Grandmas would have been making all the time and we just forgot how to do it…because of supermarket stuff.

It is also a bit “Zen”, like caramel making because you need to stay close to your hot pan and keep stirring until the right temperature is reached.

A bit like caramel, you definitely need a Thermometer to keep track of the temperature of the mixture in the pan. I am sure that our grandmothers were capable of knowing the right time of cooking but for me, it is just easier.

The trick is to heat up the mixture until it reaches 107 degrees celsius. This is the temperature at which the sugar and the pectin change structure and become the jelly-like sweets. If you leave the temperature to go higher, you will get something closer to candies.

I like to make small pieces with sugar on them so that they don’t stick to each other. Other people like to coat them with granulated sugar.

The very best is to use a little bit of citric acid and mix it with some granulated sugar, then blitz this in a coffee grinder or blender. You get something like icing sugar which has a bit of a sour taste which most people love on their sweets.

My prefered is to simply have them naked, it is a bit sticky but who cares! Simply lick your fingers afterwards…

Ingredients:

• 300g of Fruits (I am using Raspberries in the pictures)
• 300g of Sugar. (yes 50/50 is ok)
• 20g of Pectin (without this forget it). I got mine here. But Amazon has plenty as well.
• for the coating: 1 tablespoon of citric acid for 7 to 10 tablespoons of granulated sugar.

Preparation:

• Blend the fruits very fine. I use the Vitamix or the  Bamix for that with the chopping attachment on full speed. Ideally, to take the Raspberry seeds out, you can filter through a fine mesh but you probably lose a bit of the goodness that is in the seeds. I prefer to blend the fruits a bit longer and crush the seeds to keep as many vitamins and goodness in the end product. The Vitamix is the best for that. Full blast for 45 seconds and the seeds will get blended within the mixture.
• Mix the sugar and pectin together
• Put everything in a pan, and stir over strong heat.
• Stir again and again until you get to 107 degrees, it will take forever….until you get something fairly sticky in the pan. It will bubble up and boil. check the temperature regularly.
• Once the 107 degrees has been reached, pour the mixture on a tray with cling film or even better a sheet of silicone. Try to make a rectangle that has a thickness of about 1.5cm. The mixture should be thick enough so that this is an easy step.
• Let it cool down, this will probably take a good hour or more.
• Make the coating mixture with the citric acid and the sugar. Simply blend a bit of citric acid with a fair amount of sugar. Taste to check how “sour” you want it to be. You can have then fairly sour because the overall “Pate de Fruits” is very sweet anyway.
• Slice little cubes or rectangles of the size of your choice, then put into a Ziplock plastic bag or simply in a bowl. Pour the powdered sugar on the candies to coat them with a fine dust that will prevent them to stick to each other.

You can keep these sweets for a long time in a box but you will struggle to not eat them! After a few days, they become just a little bit gummier that’s all.

Although the recipe has a lot of sugar in it, like Jam, it is a good way of getting fruits and vitamins inside our kids … they love it.

I make some with Strawberries, Apples etc….it think that most fruits would work and you can also make blends of Apples and Blueberries or anything you fancy! It is also very nice to add a little bit of Lime juice to the fruit mixture.

Actually decided to make a list of fruits to try :

Raspberries, Strawberries, Blueberries, Apricot, Blood Orange, Lemon+Apple, Red currant, Kiwi, Mango, Melon, Pear, Cherries, Peaches….