Moussaka Ravioli

[mangosteen]

I admit that this may seem to be an odd combination, but it is the culmination of multiple circumstances. 1. My husband is on a mission to perfect the stuffed pasta skills that he learned on a recent trip to Italy. 2. He loves moussaka, but we do not have an oven in our tiny apartment. Hence he came up with the moussaka ravioli idea.

I have a recipe for moussaka that I like very much and we are going to use that as a base for the filling. We have decided to try to put two layers inside the ravioli - a piece of (cooked) eggplant and the (cooked) ground lamb mix. I was contemplating trying to put the bechamel layer inside as well since I love the texture so much, but I think it won't work out. Finally, we are thinking of trying to use the bechamel for the sauce. Could I thin it with some chicken stock to make it more pasta sauce consistency? I'm having trouble imagining it. Maybe we should just skip the bechamel?

If any of you kind souls have any thoughts or suggestions, they would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Lisa

[Chufi]

oooh, what a good idea.

I think I would go easy on the tomato in the filling, and then serve with a tomato sauce. Maybe just use a little bit of bechamel to bind the lambmix?

It would be very cool if you could get rather thin aubergines, and then have a slice of aubergine on the base, topped with the lamb. That would mean round ravioli ofcourse.

Do you use mint in your moussaka? you could also serve them with mint butter, as a variation on the sage butter that is often served with Italian ravioli.

[Smithy]

Chufi and I are thinking along the same lines. Why not use bechamel as the binder for the eggplant and lamb? Barring that, I'd say use a dual sauce: a well-seasoned tomato sauce as the main sauce on the ravioli, with a touch of bechamel as a garnish. Of course you can do without the bechamel, but I think it adds a nice flavor.

I've never had mint in moussaka! That sounds like a great idea!

There was a Moussaka Cookoff last year, where (as with all such cookoffs) folks compared notes, recipes and techniques. Would you care to share your beloved recipe, either here or over there?

[John DePaula]

Do you use mint in your moussaka? you could also serve them with mint butter, as a variation on the sage butter that is often served with Italian ravioli.

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Love this idea. And the mint is really great in this dish, as well as a nice touch of cinnamon. Yumm!

[mangosteen]

Thanks for the great suggestions. I think I'm leaning toward making a simple tomato sauce and adding blobs of bechamel as a kind of garnish. I can't imagine eating moussaka without the bechamel - I love it!

Chufi - I really like the idea of buying some thinner Asian eggplants and just cutting rounds to make a layer in a circular ravioli. We already bought the ingredients for this batch, but for the next revision.

My moussaka recipe is just from epicurious, but I will go ahead and add it to the Moussaka cook-off thread as I think it's a good one.

Thank you EGulleters once again!

[Eden]

Just to look at other options, what if you put the eggplant & the bechamel inside the ravioli & then did a ground-lamb/tomato sauce on top?

[TongoRad]

Maybe this is a bit of a stretch, but I used to do these crazy Indian inspired crepes with a bechamel sauce on top (stuffed with keema mattar or Kerala mushrooms, that sort of thing), though there was no egg in the bechamel as one would add to the moussaka bechamel. I think that would work really well with your ravioli, and I particularly like the two sauce idea. Anyway, if the ravioli don't work out maybe you can do some sort of crepe thing, or even an assembled manicotti.

[mangosteen]

We made our initial attempt at moussaka ravioli tonight. Thanks for all of your suggestions. We used this recipe from Epicurious as a guide...

Moussaka a la Grecque

Recipe adapted from The New York Times Cookbook, Craig Claiborne, Harper/Rowe, 1961

3 medium eggplants

8 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

3 onions, chopped

2 pounds ground lamb

3 tablespoons tomato paste

1 1/2 cup red wine

1/2 cup chopped parsley

Pinch cinnamon

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

6 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 quart whole milk, heated

4 large eggs, beaten

Pinch nutmeg

2 cups ricotta

1 cup fresh bread crumbs

1 cup freshly grated Parmesan

Peel the eggplant and slice it crosswise 1/2-inch thick. Sprinkle both sides of each slice lightly with salt, arrange in 1 layer on paper towels and let drain for 30 minutes.

In a large skillet heat 2 tablespoons of the oil over moderate heat; add as many slices as will fit in 1 layer and brown on both sides. Repeat the procedure with 4 tablespoons of the remaining oil and the remaining eggplant. Drain the eggplant as they are cooked on paper towels.

Add the remaining 2 tablespoons oil and the onion to the skillet and cook until the onions are brown. Add the ground meat and cook, stirring occasionally, until the meat is no longer pink. Combine the tomato paste with the wine, parsley, and cinnamon. Add this mixture to the skillet and simmer over low heat, stirring often, until all the liquid has evaporated. Add salt and pepper, to taste.

In a sauce pan, over low heat, melt the butter, add the flour and whisk for 5 minutes. Turn up the heat to moderate and add the milk in a stream, whisking. Simmer for 5 minutes, add salt and pepper, to taste, and remove from the heat. Cool slightly and stir in the eggs, nutmeg, and ricotta.

Grease and 11 by 16-inch pan and sprinkle the bottom lightly with bread crumbs. Arrange alternating layers of eggplant and meat sauce in the pan, sprinkling each layer with Parmesan and bread crumbs. Pour the egg sauce over the top and bake one hour in a preheat 350 degree oven, or until top is golden. Let cool twenty minutes before slicing.

Here is a picture of the ravioli as they were being assembled...

and the finished product (sorry the picture is so dark!)...

It might not look beautiful, but it was very tasty. I made a simple tomato sauce, with oregano and red wine, and added the bechamel "garnish" on the plate, which provided a nice creamy contrast with the tomato sauce but was not too rich. I did not add the egg to the bechamel since we couldn't bake it. We put a little in some of the ravioli but because it was also served on the plate it didn't add much to have it inside the ravioli as well.

Next time I think we might make much larger ravioli (similar to the manicotti or crepe idea) to increase the effect of the layers. I also really like the idea of a moussaka-spiced lamb-tomato sauce on bechamel-eggplant ravioli. We will have to try that too. So many ideas so little time!

Thanks again.

Lisa

[athinaeos]

i would suggest a slightly different approach to the filling: eggplant puree mixed with the ground meat

the key flavour here is the smoky flavour of the eggplant (you broil it until the skin becomes solid and the inside is moist) combined with garlic and the lamb

(you brown the garlic and the meat lightly and then you mix it with the puree, adding salt, pepper, parsley)

as i like cumin very much with lamb, i also add a pinch of freshly ground cumin

note: do no add tomatoes in the mix

before you make the raviolis add a bit of flour in the mix