Instant Moussaka

The neighbour came around just as I was serving brunch, which was the last pieces of fish from the Gourmet platter, scrambled egg and tomato. I have no idea what kind of fish it was, it tasted a bit like tilapia, but it had some orange marinade stuff on it.
It was fine, not great.

She wanted to borrow cutlery, crockery and glassware for Christmas day, as she is having 12 guests and has nothing. But she knows well that I am well-stocked! I suggested she may want to serve her soup in shot glasses, but she said it was a plain vegetable soup and not fancy enough for glasses. Ha ha ha. I told her it was the glasses that made the soup fancy, and not the other way round.

Perhaps she should have popped around at dinnertime. I had planned to make a lamb stew, but left it a bit late. So instead we started with a melon and ham amuse from the Albert Heijn Festive range.

Aren't those glasses cute? That's why I bought them.

Then tomato carpaccio. I have an electric slicer, not a mandolin, and I cut the tomato about 2mm thick. I used bottled dressing (wasabi and ginger, which tastes neither of wasabi nor ginger, but makes a reasonable vinaigrette), s&p, parsley and feta as a sprinkle over the top. It's always nice to let these stand for a while so the tomatoes can absorb the flavours.


Main course was leftovers. There was about 250 gram of leftover roast beef in the cold drawer and I wanted to use it up before it went off. I chopped it finely in the food processor, and cooked it up with some chopped shallot, a peeled tomato, and a dash of red wine. That mix went into individual ramekins (there was too much for just 2) and I topped it with peeled aubergine slices. Very thin slices. Then I made a sauce with one egg, half a cup of milk and about 4 tablespoons of freshly grated parmesan cheese, which I poured on top of the aubergine. All that went into the oven for 20 minutes, and hey presto, instant moussaka.

I served it with cooked beans tossed in walnut oil, with walnuts added for show.