Moussaka – Greek Lasagna

On July 5, 2017 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Greece, Recipes8 Comments

One of the dishes that we truly enjoyed while we were staying in Europe was Moussaka. Although we went to Athens, Greece, it was in Frankfurt that we ended up trying Moussaka for the first time. Most of the staff at our favorite restaurant were actually Greek and although it was a French Bistro, they sometimes put something Greek as their special of the day. We are not typically big fans of eggplant, but this is one recipe that makes us forget that it is even in there. We are attempting to recreate some of our favorite meals from our time in Europe and this is one of our first attempts. We modified a recipe that we found on the internet and the biggest difference is that it didn’t put sauce on top of the moussaka. It may not be quite as good as what the Greek chef at the restaurant made, but it was really delicious. Because it is just the two of us, this is a smaller recipe, but you can easily increase the amounts to make a larger batch.

INGREDIENTS

2/3 lb Ground Lamb
1 Large Eggplant
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/3 Medium Red Onion – chopped
2/3 Clove of Fresh Garlic – minced
1 tsp Dried Oregano
1/8 Lemon – sliced into thin rings
1 Small Handful of Fresh Parsley – chopped
1/8 tsp Ground Cinnamon
2 tbsp Tomato Paste
8 oz Crushed Tomatoes
3 oz Feta Cheese Crumbles
1/3 cup Fresh Parmesan – grated
1/3 cup Bread Crumbs
Salt and Pepper

INSTRUCTIONS

Cut the stem off of the eggplant and peel the skin with a vegetable peeler. Cut the eggplant lengthwise into 1/2 inch slices (You should have 6 slices). Salt and pepper both sides of the eggplant slices. Heat about 2 ounces of olive oil in a large skillet and heat to medium-high heat. Cook the eggplant slices in the skillet until golden brown, about 3 – 4 minutes per side. You will likely need to do this in a couple of batches as you don’t want to crowd the slices in the pan or they won’t fry properly. Remove the slices from the skillet and let them rest on a paper towel to drain. Add some more oil to the pan and add the onion, lemon, garlic, oregano and parsley. Cook for about 3 minutes on medium heat until the onions are translucent. Add the ground lamb, making sure to break the meat up, and season with salt and pepper. Add the cinnamon, tomato paste, and crushed tomatoes and continue to cook until the lamb is brown and the liquid has evaporated. Remove from the heat.

Pre-heat an oven to 350 degrees. Select a casserole dish that is about the size of two of the eggplant slices laying side by side. Spray the bottom of the small casserole dish with non-stick cooking spray and layer two of the eggplant slices on the bottom, trying to cover as much of the bottom of the dish as possible, but ensuring that there are no gaps between the eggplant slices. Add half of the meat mixture, then half of the feta cheese, and finally half of the parmesan cheese. Layer two more eggplant slices and repeat layering the meat and cheese. Place the final two slices on top and sprinkle with the bread crumbs. Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes and the bread crumbs have turned golden brown.

Roasted Leg of Lamb with Gravy

On March 30, 2016 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Recipes14 Comments

We have very specific meals that we have on special occasions and lamb is our Easter tradition. There is something about having lamb that is very emblematic of the coming of spring to us and we look forward to this meal every year. It doesn’t have to be a leg of lamb, but that is our preference when we are able to get it. Surprisingly, lamb isn’t as easy to find here in Colorado and it is often expensive, which doesn’t really make a lot of sense to us. Oven roasted red potatoes is definitely our favorite starch to serve with lamb and sautéing spinach made for a light and refreshing vegetable.

Ingredients

5 lb, Bone-in, Leg of Lamb
2 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 Garlic Clove – finely minced
1 tbsp Fresh Rosemary – chopped
Salt and Pepper to taste
1/4 cup All-Purpose Flour
1/3 cup Water

Instructions

In a small bowl, combine the olive oil, garlic, rosemary, salt, and pepper. Place the lamb, fat side up, on a rack in a roasting pan. Rub the herb mixture over the top of the lamb. Pour a cup of water into the bottom of the pan. Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees and place the lamb on the middle rack in the center of the oven. Cook for 15 minutes and then reduce the heat to 350 degrees. Continue cooking for an hour and thirty minutes (approximately 20 minutes per pound) or when an instant-read thermometer reads 155 degrees at the thickest part of the lamb, but not near the bone. Remove the lamb from the pan, cover, and set aside for 15 minutes to rest. Using red wine or water, deglaze the bottom of the roasting pan and pour the drippings into a small saucepan over medium heat. Whisk together the flour and water to make a rue. Once the pan drippings are hot, slowly whisk in the flour mixture until the gravy is at the desired consistency. Be sure to add the flour mixture when the drippings are nice and hot to avoid lumps in the gravy. If desired, roast red potatoes that have been quartered with olive oil, garlic powder, chopped rosemary, salt and pepper, in an oven at 450 degrees for 40 minutes or until golden brown. In a sauté pan, add olive oil, spinach, red pepper flakes, stone-ground mustard, salt and pepper and cook the spinach over medium-high heat until wilted. Enjoy with a nice glass of wine. 🙂

The Food of Iceland

On March 2, 2016 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Recipes22 Comments

We actually ate more on this trip than we usually do. Perhaps it was because we love seafood or just because every day was a long day of exploring the beautiful landscapes. We definitely wanted to try authentic Icelandic fare, but there were also a few things that we knew that we wouldn’t eat. When reading about the food of Iceland before we travelled, there was quite a bit out there about the restaurants serving whale and puffin. We’d also heard about the fermented shark, which was featured on a couple of shows, including Bizarre Foods. We mostly ate in Reykjavik, but we did enjoy a couple of meals while we were travelling around the countryside.

Seafood and lamb were on every menu in one shape or form and the most traditional dishes seemed to be the soups, fish soup, meat soup, and lamb soup, of which we tried each. We had fish soup several times and each time the broth was a little different, but they were all delicious. Langoustine, which are small lobsters, were also very common on most menus. Some of the best that we had were actually at the restaurant at the Settlement Center in Borganese. They had a wonderful buffet, but we chose to order a la carte, having lamb and fish soup and then entrees. In addition to the langoustine on tagliatelle, we also had Ling, which is a white fish in the cod family, but it was lighter than traditional cod and very delicious.

When we went out to the Snæfellsnes peninsula, the Hotel Búðir was highly recommended to us as the place to stop for lunch and we weren’t disappointed. They are a wonderful hotel and would probably be a great place to stay and get out of Reykjavik, but we had to settle for just having lunch there. Again, we had fish soup as well as a lamb sandwich, with the meat being very mild in flavor.

On one of our nights out, we decided to do the chef’s menu at the Seafood Grill, something also offered at many restaurants, where you get several courses all chosen by the chef to represent the food of Iceland. We told them that we did not want puffin or whale, ordered a couple of glasses of wine, and then the food started coming, all nine courses. Unfortunately they still brought us puffin, but we asked them to replace it with a second order of goose, but otherwise every course, all meat except for dessert, were delicious. We had goose, grouper, salmon, lobster, ocean pearch, and lamb. It was way more food than we could eat, but each course was incredible.

Cured Goose and Puffin (before we returned it)

In addition to the food, Iceland is quite proud of its beer. The most common is Gull beer, which is brewed in Reykjavik and can be found just about everywhere. We tried Boli Premium that is a premium lager that is also brewed in Reykjavik. There is no wine produced in Iceland, for obvious reasons, but we did hear that they were going to attempt it in the near future. The other thing that they produce in Iceland is vodka as well as Brennivín, which is an unsweetened schnapps that is the most popular distilled alcohol in Iceland and is usually taken as a shot.

We chose not to eat any puffin or whale during our trip because of the environmental impact. From what we heard, the puffin population has decreased by 38% since it became a popular dish on the island and some whales are still on the endangered species list. We don’t judge anyone else who chooses to eat puffin or whale, it is just something that we didn’t want have while we were there. Fermented shark is a shark head that has been left out for a month to rot and is then served. We didn’t see that on any menu, but it just sounds disgusting, so we were glad not to see it. The one other thing that we saw on a menu, but didn’t try, was reindeer. We probably would have tried that had we had the chance, but the restaurant that served it was so busy that we ended up walking out without eating there.

Overall, the food that we had was terrific, especially the seafood. Because we wanted to try as many different things as possible, we ended up eating way more than we usually would. Normally we split a meal or just eat small bites, but on this trip we ordered appetizers and full meals for each of us so that we could share and order different things. Reykjavik definitely has a wonderful variety of restaurants to choose from, both Icelandic as well as traditional restaurants such as Italian, Thai, American, etc. The food was definitely one of the highlights of our trip.