Athens: history, culture, love and moussaka!

Arriving into the Athens bus station after only 3 hours sleep was quite a challenging experience. Once again, I had no idea where I was in the expansive and sprawling city, where I was going and where I would be sleeping, but this was my plan and it was also my challenge which i conquered.

The local bus ride was nothing short of uneventful, I took number 51 to Ommonia. It was peak hour so the bus was packed, i fell into a tiny greek woman with my 20kg plus pack on my back and a very staunch Syrian man named Dimitri grabbed me and helped me up. He then lead me off the bus and walking me into an internet cafe filled with middle age Greek men smoking ciggarettes and playing world of warcraft (withut headphones), and walked out, I was pretty flustered!

I had a quick look at my emails confirming I had no couch surfing host, so i found a hostel, google mapped it, interupted world of war craft to try and find out where on the Athens map I was exactly. There was a lot of communication in Greek, pointing at the map, some exasperated looks and a return to world of war craft.

I was prepared to leave and find my way when a younger Greek guy protruded a map, I have no idea where from (this was not a tourists internet cafe), he drew an X, various arrows and then another X marking my hostel! Alas a good 40 minutes later I arrived at the steps of my haven for the next two days. I showered and wandered down to the metro and managed to negotiate my way to Monastariki square to meet a group of travellers and Greeks from the couch surfing website.

After some snacking on olives and cherries (ok I'm a convert, I actually do like them now) a few more stragglers turned up for our evening meet up, we had a good group half Greeks and half travellers, a lovely french canadian girl, a few charming mexican men a delightful irish man named Mike who i struggled to understand (the Irish always get me).

The greeks lead the way, down a multittude of alley ways, where people eat and drink in the streets on cute tables and there are no cars. We accidentally wandered into a rather dodgy alley, I didnt see exactly what was going on, but we were promptly turned back by the Greeks, muttering about heroin, needles and knives. We walked for a while past various ruins, street cafes, tourists and greeks alike…...

Now that was a flashback to a piece of writing i forgotten i had started almost 4 years ago to the day. To accompany it I have one of my favourite vegetarian recipes of all time……….

GREEK MOUSSAKA (not vegan - can be adapted though)

 I made a friend on Samos island when i was backpacking alone, I met an old greek man down by the harbour with a very handsome nephew. My lovely old friend had many interesting stories and was once upon a time a chef on the ferries, anyway he cooked for me, so its a combination of what he cooked for me and another recipe a friends mum made….

Ingredients:
Papertowels
Eggplants (1 large or two small)
Salt
Breadcrumbs (gluten free crumbs work superbly)
Egg (or replacement for crumbing the eggplant)
Tomato sauce base:
Tomatoes (fresh or tinned)
Herbs (oregano basil anything like that)
onion
garlic
Cheese sauce:
Flour
Cheese (or an alternative perhaps nutritional yeast cheese replacement)
Olivani (or butter/alternative)
Water (i never use milk anymore you can though)

1. Its not a fast process so you may want to pour a glass of red win. First slice the eggplants into rounds about 1cm thick give or take. Lay them all out on a chopping board or whatever you have and sprinkle salt on top. Leave for half an hour or so come back and use some paper towels to lightly absorb the excess fluid. Then turn them all over and salt the other side. The purpose is to remove all the liquid for crumbing. I sometimes repeat the process depending on how much liquid comes out and the ripeness of the eggplant.

2. Cut onion, garlic (fresh) and throw in a pan to make a lovely thick tomato sauce. Saute your onions as you normally would till they're clear. Then add your garlic, once it starts to brown add your freshly chopped or tinned tomatoes. Then you'll need to reduce the frying heat to a simmer add in your herbs and mix then let it slowly simmer till it thickens.

Now you can put anything really you like in the sauce, sometimes ill add red capsicums if i have them or finely chopped zucchinis but a simple sauce is just as good. (The lazy option is to use a good quality pre made jar of rich tomato sauce), however i always love to know whats going into my food and enjoy making it from scratch.

3. Back to the Eggplant it should be sufficiently liquid free now and has probably browned slightly in colour this is fine. Now you need to get them ready for crumbing. Mix two eggs in a bowl and get your crumbs in a separate bowl. You need to dip into the egg then crumbs ensuring both sides are well covered. Once you've finished crumbing all your eggplant slices, you can fry them till they're just brown don't overcook though. So only 1 minute or so on either side.

4. Prepare the cheese sauce (or alternative). I always melt the butter (margarine) first about a tablespoon then add two tablespoons of flour and then your water. You just need to whisk constantly to get a smooth texture, keep whisking and adding more water till you reach a desired consistency. Lastly add your cheese or alternative, you can even just use nutritional yeast and some extra flavours like garlic and have a lovely vegan white sauce instead.

5. Putting it altogether, so you'll need a deep dish, spread a thin layer of your tomato sauce on the bottom of the dish then your fried and breaded eggplant slices. Then add another layer of tomato sauce and then cheese sauce. I normally have about three eggplant layers but again i'd say two minimum and you could definitely do more if you have a deep enough dish. I always finish with my cheese sauce on top.

6. Bake in the oven for about 45minutes till eggplant is soft and its cooked through. It's always best if you let it sit so the sauces can settle at least an hour before serving.