Lighter moussaka and going Greek

I am loving this Med way of eating, I think I must have been born in the wrong country.  We did live in Gibraltar for a couple of years when I was a child of 6 or 7, I don't remember much about the food though, other than trees with big oranges and lemons growing at the side of the road, much like we have, say, ash or beech trees here.  I'm sure we must have eaten a lot of salads, as it always seemed to be hot there.

We've discovered we particularly like Greek food, I found a lovely website www.olivetomato.com/ which has fantastic authentic Greek recipes, written by a Greek lady, unsurprisingly.  She gives recipes that her mother and grandmother have handed down, some of which we've tried....we haven't yet found one we don't like.  Of course, it helps if you like feta cheese, tomatoes and particularly olive oil.  I absolutely hated olive oil when I was young....funny how tastes change.  In fact, when I was young, olive oil was something Mum kept a small bottle of for the sole purpose of putting it in our ears when we had earache!  No wonder I didn't like it back then, I just thought of it as a sort of ointment!

I can't wait for our own tomatoes this summer - the only option we have at the moment is buying foreign ones that have come 1000s of miles, which doesn't really sit well with me anymore - we want to eat seasonally and local as much as possible.  And tomatoes that have come from abroad and been refrigerated for the whole journey just don't taste of much.  There's nothing like the taste - and smell, shop bought ones don't have any smell - of home grown tomatoes, whichever country you live in.

I made moussaka yesterday, a much lighter version of the one I've always made before.  I used a very small amount (150g) of extra lean minced beef, cooked up with onion, tinned chopped tomatoes and red lentils, along with sliced aubergines and courgettes, which I grilled first, having sprayed them with olive oil spray.  Previously, I would have layered the mince (much more mince) and veg slices with cheese sauce, finishing up with a layer of part cooked potato slices and lots more cheese sauce.  I know, not very authentic.  This time, I used slices of Brie in between the layers, finishing with aubergines (no potatoes in this one).  I beat 2 eggs with a tablespoon of cottage cheese and one of Greek yogurt and added some crumbled feta, then spooned that over the top before baking.  Oh, it was delicious, husband said he preferred it to my usual version.

We had chicken biryani the other day....I usually use lamb, but chose chicken thighs instead as we're cutting down drastically on red meat.  Very nice, although the house did stink of curry for a couple of days.

Today we're having Greek-style pork chops, they're marinating in apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, olive oil, rosemary and oregano.  I'm doing Greek potatoes with them - one of the recipes from the Olive Tomato site, sliced potatoes baked in olive oil, lemon, feta and oregano.  I've also done a pan of Greek style peas.....that's peas cooked with sliced onion and carrot, in - you've guessed it - olive oil and tomato puree, with dill.  Smells lovely.  

We've been having variations of Greek salad for lunch most days - always tomato and cucumber and thinly sliced red onion, sometimes with beetroot, sometimes beans, a bit of chorizo, with either feta or halloumi, and a simple dressing, olive oil with either balsamic or cider vinegar.

I wish I'd taken more notice of the Mediterranean diet years ago.