Post 170: Moussaka (Bridget Jones recipe)

I like Greece. I've been to many places, I'm probably forgetting some here, I've been to: Keleflonia, Crete twice, Ios, Paros, Naxos, Santorini, Zante, Lesvos and the mainland. In every one of these places, I've eaten Moussaka and never yet been disappointed. I think I've been trying to cook my own Moussaka now for 15 years, this is my second go since I've been bloggering. I'm still trying.

This is my latest attempt:

• 1 big finely chopped onion, fried
• 3/4's kilo mince (this was meant to be lamb mince, but I used mixed beef and lamb, as that was all the butcher had), fried until brown
• 1 1/2 tablespoons of oregano
• 3 cloves of garlic (this was my own addition again - Bridget does not seem a fan of garlic)
• 2 tins chopped tomatoes
• All this was stirred together ready for layering
• I then boiled until soft two large potatoes and then sliced then fairly thinly
• The aubergine, which always seems the tricky bit was sliced and then grilled for 5 minutes.

All this was layered, and then a topping of grated cheddar cheese and single cream was added. I then baked all this for 45 minutes. It looked nice. However, the aubergines were very tough and although I'd boiled the potatoes until they edges had started to disintegrate, some of the slices were still hard even after baking.

For this, Rich recommended a South African Pinotage or a Cypriot Othello. As luck would have it, I even had a bottle of Pinotage. Yay!

I've heard people in restaurants ordering this and thought they sounded pretty sophisticated; it's not house red is it? However, I found it all a bit lightweight and over sweet. Traditonally, I've always drunk Amstel with Moussaka - I might revert to that next time.

So all in, not a good night.