JBug's Kitchen Antics

Pastitsio aka Greek Lasagne

We took a little imaginary trip to the sunny Greek islands last night with this pasta casserole of meat sauce and bechamel that's somewhat equivalent to an Italian lasagne.

Loaded with pasta on the bottom and top with a flavorful meat sauce sandwiched between the two, the biggest difference with Pastitsio other than the subtle cinnamon flavor in the sauce is that the amount of cheese in the whole thing is quite minimal. What it means is the bechamel stands out in all its rich and creamy glory made even better with the addition of egg yolks as it forms a light and puffing golden cap on the casserole.

It's quite delicious and has me craving moussaka which is really much the same except that grilled eggplant and potatoes replace the pasta. Don't be surprised if you see it here too really soon.

Pastitsio aka Greek Lasagne (from JBug’s Kitchen adapted from Saveur)

I used ground pork in the meat sauce, but feel free to use beef, veal or lamb in your version.

Meat Sauce:

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 large red pepper, minced

1 medium yellow onion, minced

1/2 pound ground pork

1-1/4 cups crushed tomatoes

1/3 cup red wine

1/2 teaspoon crushed red peppers

1 bay leaf

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Salt, freshly ground black pepper to taste

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium high heat until shimmering. Add pepper and onion and sauté until vegetables are softened – about 5 minutes. Remove to bowl and add ground pork to the pan, crumbling it with a fork as it browns. Return vegetables to skillet and sprinkle with crushed red peppers, salt, pepper and cinnamon. Stir to incorporate, add bay leaf and stir in tomatoes and wine. Lower heat to simmer and cook until liquid is reduced and sauce is thick – about 15 minutes. Cool.

Béchamel:

1/4 cup unsalted butter

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

2 cups whole milk

1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese, divided

2 eggs, yolks separated from whites

1/4 cup half and half

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

8 ounces pasta, cooked to al dente and well drained

In a large bowl, whisk egg whites until frothy. Add half of the grated cheese and stir in cooked pasta. Set aside.

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in flour and cook whisking constantly until mixture is slightly golden in color – about 2 minutes. Slowly whisk in milk and cool until thickened, whisking often.  Meanwhile in a small bowl whisk together egg yolks with half and half. Stir in remaining parmesan cheese. When béchamel sauce is thickened, remove from heat and whisk some into egg yolk mixture. Return yolk/béchamel mixture to the pot, whisking constantly. Season with salt, pepper and grated nutmeg. Set aside to cool slightly.

To assemble dish, spray a deep casserole dish with cooking spray. Preheat oven to 350. Place half of the pasta/egg white/cheese mixture into bottom of casserole. Spread all of the meat sauce on top and top with remaining pasta. Spread béchamel evenly on top of pasta. Place casserole dish onto a sheet pan to catch any drips and bake for 45 to 55 minutes until béchamel is golden brown and puffed and casserole is bubbling. Remove from oven, and cool for 10 minutes before serving.  Makes 6 servings.

A year ago - Pizza Soup

Two year's ago - Fried Catfish and Hushpuppies  

Greek Style Broccoli Cheese Pie with Patio Chicken

Yesterday was National Pie day and while most people would think to celebrate with a sweet and delicious dessert, I thought I'd be different and serve a savory version. This broccoli cheese pie isn't anything like the usual quiche variety that most of us are used to. It has all the appearance and flavors of a giant Greek spanikopeta without the spinach!

It's made from broccoli, steamed and chopped up along with sauteed onion, lots of lovely feta cheese, fresh parsley, dill and garlic of course and it's all wrapped up in a nice little crispy phyllo blanket. It's the kind of thing I personally love to eat - hot or cold; however, I'll admit I made a slight slip up yesterday and added  lemon zest and juice just because I've got a ton of them around right now. A lighter hand would have been better, as the lemon commandeered the party, so you'll notice in the recipe below I've left it out entirely. It didn't make it inedible - just different. It would be perfect on its own with a tossed salad for lunch or dinner, but as you know we don't do meatless much around here and that's where the chicken comes in.

Don't ask me why it's called "Patio" chicken because I have no clue but this one's from Celebrated Seasons, one of my collection of Junior League Cookbooks and it's really very good. I used skinless boneless chicken thighs, covered them in a spiced up crumb crust and baked them in a 400 oven for 15 minutes, after which they're slathered in mayonnaise and returned to the oven to finish cooking. 

They're very tender, moist and really flavorful - in fact, it would be fabulous picnic food, well wrapped and in a cooler of course. It'll also make an awesome chicken sandwich with sliced tomatoes and maybe a slice or two of crisp bacon -- but we digress. That'll have to be a whole different story.

Greek Style Broccoli Cheese Pie (from JBug’s Kitchen adapted from Celebrated Seasons, A Junior League Cookbook)

10 to 12 sheets phyllo pastry

1 small onion finely chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon olive oil

20 ounces broccoli florets, steamed until tender, drained and chopped

3 eggs, beaten

8 ounces feta cheese, crumbled (I used one with Mediterranean Herbs)

1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

1/4 cup chopped fresh dill

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper

1/2 cup melted butter

Preheat oven to 350. Heat oil in a small skillet and sauté onion until transparent. Add garlic and cook an additional minute until garlic is fragrant. Move to a large bowl to cool slightly. Add broccoli, eggs, feta, parsley, dill, salt and pepper. Mix well to combine.

Arrange 6 to 8 sheets of phyllo pastry on a board, staggering layers and brushing lightly with butter between each layer. Place into a 9 inch spring form pan, allowing the sides to overlap the edges of the pan. Pour filling into the pan and fold overlapped edges toward center of pan to partially cover filling. Arrange 4 sheets of phyllo together on a board, brushing lightly with butter in between. Using a sharp knife, cut a circle to fit the top of your spring form pan. Place circle of phyllo sheets on top of filling. Using a sharp knife, score the top sheets into 8 wedges. Brush top with remaining butter.

Place spring form pan onto a baking sheet to catch any drips. Bake in 350 oven for 50 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes. Remove sides from pan and slide pie onto serving plate. Cut into wedges.

Patio Chicken (from JBug’s Kitchen adapted from Celebrated Seasons, A Junior League Cookbook)

2 pounds chicken – I used skinless boneless thighs

1 cup dry Italian breadcrumbs

1-1/2 teaspoons onion salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon summer savory

1/2 teaspoon curry powder

1/2 cup mayonnaise

Preheat oven to 400. Spray a sheet pan with cooking spray and set aside. Combine breadcrumbs, onion salt, pepper, garlic powder, summer savory and curry powder in zip top bag. Rinse chicken pieces and pat dry with paper towel, leaving a little moisture on them. Add pieces one at a time to the bag of spiced crumbs and shake to coat. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and brush with mayonnaise, sprinkling any remaining crumbs on top. Lower oven heat to 350 and continue to bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until tender. Serve hot or cold.

A year ago - Gnocchi with Romesco and Italian Sausage   Two year's ago - Steak and Guinness Pie

Meatballs in Tomato Sauce (Keftedes me Saltsa Domata)

Remember the Neil Diamond recording titled "Love at the Greek"? Well, for the longest time I thought it was love the Greek and if anything can do it for you, this'll be it! Leave it to the Greeks to come up with something so simply delicious, so much so I can't wait for a repeat performance. Moist, incredibly tender and the opposite to labor intensive, these little oval torpedoes are absolutely bursting with flavor. No wonder!

Loaded with olive oil, dried mint, oregano, cinnamon, nutmeg and cayenne pepper along with a finely minced red onion, the lean ground beef is almost an after thought - necessary but secondary to all the other ingredients. Shaped into flat ovals, coated in flour and fried quickly they take absolutely no time to make and would be wonderful as a filling for pita or part of selection of appetizers (meze) along with a glass of red wine.

As for the tomato sauce, it is a simple reduction of whole canned tomatoes, sans their juices along with lots of garlic, and beef consomme - oh and a few more herbs of course. Reduced to a thick sauce, garnished with lemon juice and parsley just before serving, it's absolutely wonderful on top of some grilled eggplant.

I can't wait to make it again with ground lamb and maybe even ground turkey. We all know ground turkey can be incredibly dry and flavorless unless it has a bunch of modifications and I can't think of a better way to modify a sawdust like turkey ball than with the fixin's from these meatballs. Just imagine it inside flatbread along with some cucumber and sweet onion or maybe a tzatziki dip. Wow!

Greek Meatballs in Tomato Sauce (Keftedes me Saltsa Domata) (adapted from Food & Wine Magazine)

Meatballs:

1 tablespoon dried mint

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon dried oregano

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 medium red onion, finely minced

1 egg, beaten

Salt and coarse ground black pepper

1/2 cup fresh breadcrumbs

1 tablespoon milk

1 pound ground beef

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

Oil for frying

In bowl combine mint, olive oil, oregano, cinnamon, nutmeg, cayenne and onion. Add egg, season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle in breadcrumbs and stir well to incorporate. Add ground beef and mix together (mixture will be very soft and moist). Form into 20 oval shaped balls and refrigerate for minimum, one half hour. To cook – heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add oil to depth of a quarter inch and heat until shimmering. Coat meatballs in flour and fry until brown on each side – approximately 5 to 6 minutes, total. Cook meatballs in batches so they brown easily and do not crowd the pan. Remove to a paper towel lined tray to drain. Set aside.

Tomato Sauce:

3 tablespoons olive oil

4 cloves garlic, minced

1-1/2 tablespoons tomato paste

2 bay leaves

1 tablespoon oregano

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1 – 28 ounce can whole peeled tomatoes, drained and pureed

1 – 10 ounce can beef consommé

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

2 tablespoons chopped parsley for garnish

Heat oil in skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and cook briefly, stirring constantly for about 30 seconds. Stir in tomato paste and cook stirring for 2 minutes. Add bay leaves, oregano, cinnamon, nutmeg, pureed tomatoes and consommé. Simmer stirring occasionally for 15 to 20 minutes or until sauce is thickened. Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper as required. Stir in lemon juice. Return meatballs to pan and heat. Garnish with parsley. Serves 4 to 6 Download Greek Meatballs in Tomato Sauce

A year ago - Kung Pao Chicken

Moussaka - Kinda'!

Last night's dinner was the first of the week that I've cooked for the big guy and I wanted something that would smell amazing when that garage door went up and squeaked out "honey, I'm home". I got what I wished for...kinda'.

I started out with great intentions to make a full fledged big casserole of moussaka knowing that I could chow down on leftovers quite easily when the big guy heads out to go hunting later next week. Unfortunately sometimes the best made plans go awry - one of two eggplants that looked pristine on the outside was rotten through the inside, so I had to go for plan B. With the bechamel made, the potatoes sliced and turning a nice golden brown in the pan, I couldn't change my mind completely so just improvised. I had some leftover lamb roast in the freezer, so did a quick thaw, chopped it up and doubled up on the meat instead of the eggplant. It sure enough made the big guy happy!

Here's the original recipe for the real McCoy that we've posted here before - it is one tasty casserole, but if you've never made it before be forewarned, while easy to make, it's rather labor intensive with a lot of steps and makes one heck of a mess of the kitchen - at least my kitchen but that could just be a reflection on the cook. I made sure it was cleaned up before the big guy got home, but it would have been a good night to have him pull kitchen duty. Silly me!

Moussaka  (Adapted Mediterranean Flavors by Nick Stellino)

2 1-1/2 pound eggplants

1-1/2 teaspoons salt

 

2 Tablespoons olive oil

1-1/2 pounds potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/8 “ slices & patted dry

3/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt

 

1-1/2 pounds ground lamb

1 onion, thinly sliced

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 bay leaves

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

2 teaspoons dried thyme

½ cup red wine

1-1/4 cups tomato sauce

1 cup beef stock

 

2 cups Béchamel Sauce (see below)

1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

Peel eggplants & cut crosswise into ½ inch thick slices. Sprinkle with salt and place on layer of paper towels. Cover with another layer of towels, then with a cutting board. Place a heavy pan on top of cutting board to weight it down. Set aside for 20 – 30 minutes.

Heat oil in sauté plan until very hot. Add potatoes, sprinkle with salt & pepper. Cook until they are lightly browned (about 5 – 7 minutes). Remove potatoes to 9 x 13” glass casserole dish and arrange evenly on bottom of dish. Dry eggplant slices with a paper towel. Add eggplant to sauté pan in batches and cook until browned on both sides. Place one half of eggplant on top of potato layer in casserole and set other half of cooked eggplant aside for later. Sprinkle well with pepper.

To the same sauté pan, add ground lamb, and cook for 6 minutes until browned. Remove from pan & set aside. Remove all but 2 Tablespoons of meat juices from pan. Add onions, garlic, bay leaves, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg and thyme. Cook until onion is soft. Return ground lamb to the pan and add red wine. Cook until wine is reduced by half. Add tomato sauce and beef stock. Lower heat, and simmer for 10 minutes or until sauce is thickened.  Top eggplant layer in casserole with meat sauce and add remaining eggplant to top, arranging evenly. Top all with béchamel sauce and sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Bake at 375 for 45 minutes, until top is golden brown. Remove from oven and let rest for 15 minutes. Cut into squares and serve.

Béchamel Sauce

2 cups whole milk, warmed in microwave

3 Tablespoons butter

3 Tablespoons flour

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

In small saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Whisk flour into melted butter and cook, stirring constantly for 2 minutes. (Do not brown the roux).  Pour warmed milk a little at a time into saucepan, whisking constantly. Continue whisking until sauce thickens to desired consistency – about 5 minutes. If you are holding béchamel for any length of time, place a piece of plastic wrap directly on top to prevent a “skin” from forming on the sauce. Download Moussaka