Vegetarian Moussaka

The moussaka is a tipical Greek dish with an intense flavour.
I have always like Moussaka but when I tried the vegetarian version I liked it even more! The way I explain here it's not the traditional one. It is prepared without bechamel, what makes it lighter but delicious!

Preparation time: 1 hour and a half

Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients: 

(For 4 persons)

1 Aubergine

1 Courgette

1 Onion

1 can 100 gr fried tomato

250 grames soft unripened cheese / Burgos cheese / or cottage cheese

50 grames grated Parmesan cheese

50 grames walnuts
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon oregano

A pinch of ground nutmeg
Olive oil
Salt

Pepper

Preparation:

1. Cut the aubergine and the courgette in 1 centimeter slices. Put some salt over them and keep them this way for an hour so they give off the water.

2. Meanwhile, cut the onion. Put some olive oil in a pan and cook the onion until it gets ready.

3. Put the soft unripened cheese in a bowl with the oregano, cinnamon, a pinch of ground nutmeg, salt, pepper and a splash of oilve oil. Stir it until you get a homogeneous cream.

4. Crush the walnuts and add it to the mixture. Taste the mixture and if necessary, add salt and pepper. Keep it in the fridge.

5. Dry the aubergine and the courgette with kitchen towels. Fry it in a pan plenty of olive oil (or sunflower oil if you prefere it). When they are cooked dry the excess of oil with some kitchen towels. Add them some salt and pepper.

6. On a baking sheet put a coat of aubergine, another of fried tomato, then the onion, the cheese cream, the courgette and on top add some grated Parmesan cheese.

7. Before serve it, put it in the oven to gratiné the cheese.

Enjoy it! :)

Tomato stuffed with Babaganoush (aubergine paté)

Today's recipe: Babaganoush or aubergine mousse paté,  is a tipical dishs from the Eastern countries.
It is very similar to hummus but the taste is completely different. 

You can eat it just with bread or with tomato as we are going to explain in the recipe.

Difficulty: Easy

Preparation Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients:

2 Aubergines

6 small tomatos

The juice of half a lemon

1/2 teaspoon of Comin

1 Garlic clove

1 teaspoon Salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 tablespoon Tahini (sesame paste) or sesame

Olive Oil

Some Bread

Optional:

Tuna (1 can = 50gr)

Preparation:

To prepare the Babaganoush:

1. Preheat the oven 200 ºC

2. Wash the aubergines and cut them in half vertically. Make some deep cuts in the pulp without cutting the skin of the aubergine.

3. Put some oven paper over the oven tray and place there the aubergines with the pulp down and cook them for 30 minutes.

4. When the aubergines are cooked remove the pulp and put it in a mixer with the salt, black pepper, cumin, (and tuna if you want)

5. Mix it all until you get the paté

6. Let it get cold for 1hour.

7. Before serve:

- You can serve it with some toasted bread or with "pan tumaca" (bread with tomato) and a bit of olive oil.
 

- Another option is to fill in some small tomatos removing the pulp of the tomatos and stuff them with the Babaganoush.

In both cases I recomend you to put some olive oil on top and spread a bit of paprika above the tomato or the bred with paté

Enjoy it!