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- Cuisine: Greek
- Serves 12
Chef Peter Conistis of Sydney's Civic Dining talks about Greek cuisine.
How has your heritage influenced your cooking?
It's the cuisine I've always cooked. I’ve always cooked my interpretation of "modern Greek" food based on the indigenous produce of Greece and reinterpreted the classic dishes I grew up with.
Why is this dish representative of Greek food/cuisine?
Moussaka is practically the national dish of Greece. The dish originated in Turkey as a lamb and eggplant braise, which was then reworked by the Greek chef Tselementes and became the dish it is today. The classic version is still prepared almost the same way wherever you go in Greece.
How closely will you be following the World Cup?
It'll be hard to get much sleep at my place during the World Cup so I guess I'll be watching quite a few of the games… especially the ones played by both Greece and/or Australia.
Is food or football more important to Greek people?
That's a hard one to answer as they're passionate for both!
If you could cook a meal for one of your nation's football heroes, past or present, who would it be and why?
Giorgios Karagounis. Greece's national soccer team captain and their greatest midfielder who scored the first goal of the tournament against Portugal and helped win the EUFA Euro cup in 2004 for Greece.
This interview is part of a series on chefs representing each of the countries in the 2010 FIFA World Cup. More interviews.
Ingredients
Ricotta cream layer500gm fresh ricotta cheese
125 gms kefalotyri, grated
4 eggs
2 egg yolks
500mls cream
60mls extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp ground white pepper
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1 tsp dried Greek oregano
Combine all ingredients and refrigerate until needed
Braised lamb layer
60ml extra virgin olive oil
750gm Lamb mince
500gm Lamb shoulder, boneless and finely diced
2 brown onions, finely diced
2 celery stalks finely diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
½ tsp dried chili flakes
½ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground all spice
1 tsp dried Greek oregano
½ tsp dried mint
2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp sugar 250ml red wine
500ml tomato puree
500ml chicken stock
1kg Desiree potatoes
3 large eggplant
Extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt
100gm kefalotyri grated
Preparation
Heat olive oil in a large saucepan. Brown mince and diced lamb, remove from pan and reserve.Leave the oil in pan and over a medium heat, cook onion, celery and garlic until translucent. Return lamb to pan and the herbs and spices.
Cook for 1 minute then add wine. Cook until wine is reduced by half. Add tomato puree and stock and simmer over low heat for 1 hour. Set aside and allow to cool.
To assemble moussaka
Peel and slice potatoes 1cm thick. Layer into a 30cm x 40cm baking dish. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt.
Place into preheated 180 degrees celsius oven and bake 15 minutes. Slice eggplant 1cm thick. Place on baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and season.
Bake for 15 minutes until lightly golden. Spread lamb filling over partially baked potato layer. Cover with baked eggplant slices then cover with ricotta custard.
Sprinkle over
If you enjoyed this Greece: Moussaka recipe then browse more Greek recipes, pasta recipes, meat recipes, valentine's day recipes and our most popular hainanese chicken rice recipe.
Greek Restaurants
Displaying 10 of 235 Greek Restaurants.
| Restaurant | Book Online | Suburb | |
| 1. | Cellar 47 | Shepparton | |
| 2. | Santorini Hawthorn | Hawthorn | |
| 3. | Lemnos Taverna | Prahran | |
| 4. | Triselies | Katoomba | |
| 5. | Saffron | Manuka | |
| 6. | Yots Greek Taverna | Larrakeyah | |
| 7. | Eros Ouzeri | Adelaide | |
| 8. | Estia | Henley Beach | |
| 9. | George's Greek Tavern | Malvern East | |
| 10. | Greek Spot | Hawthorn |
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