Classic Eats

 

I made moussaka' for the family.

Layers of fried

Melitzanes (eggplant or aubergine )

Kolokythakia ( zucchini or courgettes )

And potato

Topped with ground beef in a tomato sauce, finished with a layer of cheese sauce 

Quite a bit of work . I cook the meat and fry the vegetables the previous day. Then put it all together and make the bechamel/cheese sauce.

Moussaka and Greek salad are the two most well known greek dishes . However neither of them are considered the national dish.

That's fassolatha, bean soup.

I baked it early in the morning but then had to deliver it down to their houses in town.

On the worst day of winter.

As they say here

'ti na kanoume'.

And a shrug.

What could I do. We had to take the food down while it was still warm. 

The rain had been coming down like kareklopodara (ha, try saying that!), chair legs, or cats and dogs .

 We did it. Dragging s-in-law Kyriakos out of his house to grab the oven tray, covered in foil and a plastic bag, and run back up the slippery marble steps.  I got drenched in a minute and so did he.

The football field which is at sea level had turned into a swimming pool . The road round the back of the island called Turkodromos, Turkish road, was closed because of rock falls. The harbour road was flooded and water rushed down the stone steps like a series of waterfalls cascading down to the sea .

Dear granddaughter Luli loves moussaka. The 'stage coach' battled the blizzard and delivered the 'mail'. 

Meantime in Athens granddaughter Nels made a big baking pan of pastitsio, Greece's other favourite. Something to stick to the ribs and warm you up in the winter....or summer.

It's a layer of thick tubed macaroni with a tomato and ground beef sauce topped with lots of cheesy bechamel.