Moussaka

My mother cut this recipe out of a magazine in the 70s. I have a photocopy of it, but it does not show the magazine’s name. Like many old photocopies, it is faded and very difficult to read. The recipe, however, is as delicious as always.

Servings: 6

Meat Sauce

2 Tbsp butter
1 cup onion, diced
1 ½ lbs ground beef or lamb
1 clove garlic, crushed
½ tsp oregano, dried
½ tsp dried basil
½ tsp cinnamon
dash freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp salt
16 oz tomato sauce
2 Tbsp dry bread crumbs

1. Melt butter in 4 quart Dutch oven.
2. Add onion and meat, stirring until brown, about 10 minutes.
3. Add garlic, herbs, & spices. Cook until fragrant, 1-2 minutes.
4. Add tomato sauce, bring to boil, stirring often. Reduce heat; simmer uncovered, 1/2 hour.
5. Stir in bread crumbs.

Eggplant

2-2 ½ lbs eggplant
½ cup butter, melted
salt

1. Halve unpeeled eggplant lengthwise, then slice ½ inch thick.
2. Place in broiler pan and brush lightly with melted butter. Sprinkle lightly with salt.
3. Broil 4 inches from heat, 4 minutes per side, or until golden.

Bechamel (Cream Sauce in original)

2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp flour
½ tsp salt
dash pepper
2 c milk
2 large eggs

1. In a medium saucepan melt butter; remove from heat and stir in flour, salt and pepper.
2. Add milk gradually. Bring to a boil, stirring until mixture is thickened. Remove from heat.
3. In a small bowl, beat eggs.
4. Temper eggs by adding a small amount of hot bechamel sauce, whisking constantly. Return mixture to saucepan. Mix well and set aside.

Topping

½ cup Parmesan cheese, grated
½ cup Cheddar cheese, grated

Assembly

1. Preheat oven to 375℉.
2. In the bottom of 9″x13″ baking dish, layer 1/2 of the eggplant, overlapping slightly.
3. Mix cheeses. Sprinkle 3 tablespoons over eggplant.
4. Spoon meat sauce over top.
5. Sprinkle with 3 tablespoons cheese.
6. Layer rest of eggplant, overlapping as before.
7. Pour cream sauce over all.
8. Sprinkle top with remaining cheese.
9. Bake 35-40 minutes or until golden brown and top is set. If desired, brown top under broiler for 1 minute. Cool slightly before serving.

• You can replace the Cheddar cheese with more Parmesan.
  

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Dorian’s Eggplant Parmesan

recipe created by Dorian Lara

Dorian brought this yummy dish to one of our potlucks. It is one of the best that I have ever tasted – I think I had 2 servings.

2 large eggplants
lots of salt
flour
3 eggs
1 Tbsp milk
2 cups dry bread crumbs
1 Tbsp dry oregano
1 Tbsp dry thyme
pepper
7 cups Dorian’s Marinara Sauce
mozzarella cheese, sliced
Parmesan, freshly grated

Directions

1. Slice the eggplant into 1/2″ thick rounds.
2. Lay them on a cookie sheet (or other flat surface) that already has a layer of salt on the bottom. Cover the top of the slices with more salt. Let sit for 1 hour.
3. After one hour, thoroughly rinse the eggplant in cool running water and pat dry.
4. To bread the eggplant, set up a station using three different flat bowls leading up to the cookie sheet.
   • flour
   • eggs beaten with milk
   • breadcrumbs, oregano, thyme, and pepper (to taste)
5. Dredge both sides of the eggplant slices in flour. Shake off any excess flour.
6. Dip in egg mixture.
7. Press into bread crumb mixture – really pack on the  bread crumbs.
8. Place breaded slices on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 for about 25 minutes.
9. Pour some of the marinara sauce into the bottom of a 13×9 dish.
10. Place half of the breaded, cooked eggplant on the sauce.
11. Spoon a small amount of sauce over the eggplant.
12. Place a thin slice of mozzarella over each piece. Sprinkle with Parmesan.
13. Spoon more sauce on top.
14. Repeat layers.
15. Pour any remaining sauce over the top.
16. Bake, covered, at 350 for 30 minutes.
17. Remove the cover and continue to bake for another 30 minutes.

• The salt will weep the bitter juices from the eggplant.  Dorian recommends using kosher salt.
• Dorian designed the marinara recipe for this dish so it should make the proper amount of sauce.

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Giuseppe Trimarchi’s Italian Thanksgiving Stuffing

family recipe from Judy Begley Trimarchi

1 onion, chopped
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 lb ground beef
1 – 4 oz can mushrooms
1 – 28 oz can whole tomatoes
salt & pepper, to taste
2 hard boiled eggs, chopped
1-2 cups dry bread crumbs
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
2 cloves garlic, minced

Directions

1. Saute onions in olive oil in frying pan until onions start to lightly brown.
2. Add ground beef and garlic. Stir until browned.
3. Take mixture out of pan with slotted spoon and leave oil in pan.
4. Rinse mushrooms in cold water and drain. Add to pan. Brown them slightly, push them to the side of the pan.
5. Drain tomatoes and crush against side of bowl with fork.
6. Add tomatoes to pan and simmer for 10 minutes.
7. Add the ground beef mixture, salt and pepper to taste and let it simmer on low heat.
8. In a mixing bowl, combine hard boiled eggs, 1 cup bread crumbs, Parmesan and garlic.
9. Add crumb mixture to the meat mixture in frying pan and mix well.
10. If the mixture appears too watery, add more bread crumbs until the mixture seems appropriate for a stuffing. Add more salt and/or pepper, if needed.
11. Mix well.
12. Cool mixture slightly before stuffing in turkey.
13. If baking it separately, put in a large metal or glass baking dish about 1.5″ deep and bake at 350 for about 45 minutes. Since the meat and eggs are already cooked, the only concern is that it dry out a little and get a little crusty on top.

Judy says, “My husband’s name is Joseph Trimarchi – named after his grandfather, Giuseppe Trimarchi. In each generation, the oldest son of the oldest son names his firstborn boy after his grandfather – and so the generations go back from our son, Anthony Jordan, to my husband Joe, to his dad, Tony, to Guiseppe, to his father, Antonino, and so on – as far back as we can trace.

Guiseppe immigrated from Messina, Sicily in 1924 and eventually opened a deli near the waterfront in downtown Boston. Shipyard workers would come into the deli in the mornings to get fresh bread and cold cuts to take to work for their lunches. Guiseppe started hollowing out loaves of Italian bread and stuffing in the cold cuts to make it easier for the men to eat at the job site. He has been credited with inventing the sub sandwich!

This is his recipe for an Italian turkey stuffing. Double the recipe if you want to both stuff the turkey AND have some left over to bake in a pan. We often bake one recipe’s worth in a pan as a supplement to the traditional stuffing in our turkey. It is really delicious!!”

• You can substitute canned chopped tomatoes for the whole tomatoes.

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