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Olive oil in abundance
Traditional Greek dishes are based on chicken,
lamb, fish and seafood. Olive oil is used in abundance
during preparation - as Greece is famous for its
olive groves. The most popular dishes include
souvlaki (a skewer of cubed pork or lamb) and
moussaka (a bake made with aubergines, potatoes
and minced meat).
Moussaka
Ingredients (Serves 3):
2 onions
2 cloves garlic
500 g pork mince
olive oil
1 small tin tomato purée
200 ml stock
salt
cayenne pepper
sugar
cinnamon
herbs (thyme, basil)
4 beef tomatoes
2 courgettes
5 boiled potatoes
1 aubergine
1 cup single cream or yoghurt
2 eggs
grated hard cheese
Method:
- Finely chop the onions and garlic. Fry the
mince in olive oil with the onions until crumbly.
Add the garlic and tomato purée and sauté
lightly.
- Add the stock to the mixture, season liberally
with the herbs and spices, and thicken to a
ragout.
- Slice the tomatoes, courgettes and potatoes.
Slice the aubergine, salt it, and leave it to
stand for about 10 minutes. Then rinse with
water and dry with kitchen paper.
- In a baking dish, arrange the courgettes in
a layer, then spread the ragout out on top.
Press slices of potato, tomato, courgette and
aubergine into the mixture in slightly overlapping
rows.
- Mix together the cream or yoghurt and the
eggs and pour over the bake.
- Sprinkle the grated cheese on top and bake
in a preheated oven at around 180ºC for
about 30 minutes.
- Then heat the oven to 230ºC and bake
for a further 10 minutes to brown the cheese
topping well.
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