My Eighth recipe - Moussaka -100 Meals You Never Thought You Would Eat Pureed - Recipes for Head and Neck Cancer patients

My Eighth  recipe for the new cookbook - Moussaka

1 Moussaka

or

1 unit. cooked lamb (since you are going to puree the dish, Stew lamb works well too)
1 unit cooked potato
1/2 unit eggplant sauteed in olive oil
1/4 tomato paste
Ras el hanout (a mixed blend of spices)
Parmesan cheese to taste
enough mint tea to puree (thickness is a personal preference)
EXTRAS:
unflavored yogurt
unflavored protein powder (great with vege-protein)
liquid vitamins


This recipe is dedicated to Chef Issac Dray, who used to own the Versailles Restaurant in Lexington, and mentored me on the art of french cooking. 

Over the last couple of weeks I have had several visits to this blog from Countries around the Mediterranean particularly Turkey.  Since Moussaka and Shepard's Pie are nearly pureed already, I thought it would make a great addition to the book.  Not to mention I have been craving Moussaka.

VEGETARIAN
I am a fan of lamb,  but making a meatless moussaka is extremely common.  Remember that eggplant soaks up oil and spices.

RAS EL HANOUT
Every family that eats moussaka has their own blend of spices.  My ingredients include allspice, coriander, cumin, paprika, garlic, and turmeric. If you look up moussaka online no two recipes will have the same spices combination, so feel free to experiment, or ask your grandmother.  It seems that grandma's recipe is always better than moms recipe for this dish.  Because moussaka is powerly spiced dish, you can add a lot of healthy extra ingredients.
A neat little fact I learned on Wikipedia:  In the past, ras el hanout sometimes included cantharides in its ingredients, for its aphrodisiac properties, but the sale of cantharides was banned in Morocco in the 1990s.

POTATO
I am discovering that potatoes are the most friendly puree ingredient.  It is so easy to cook the potato in the microwave, slice it, and drop it in the blender.  The only issue with this recipe is after you microwave the potato, slice it, and add it to the sauteing eggplant to brown them a little.

COOKING
For simplification I saute all the ingredients in olive oil . . .  a generous amount of olive oil.

EXTRAS
OK, I hope I don't mean to offend grandma, but you can add a lot of extras here.  I've a listed a couple of my favorites above.  Talk to your nutritionist about what they recommend you add to your diet.

COMMENTS
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FACEBOOK
I have created a companion page on Facebook called: 100 Meals Pureed - Recipes for Head and Neck Cancer Survivors.  Sometimes it is easier to share a FB page than send a blog address.