Originally from India and China where aubergines had been cultivated since time immemorial as a medicinal plant, they arrived only in the 1300s in the Middle East and then from here to Europe brought by Arab merchants. In reality they did not enjoy a good reputation. In popular beliefs they even had malefic properties. And they did not enjoy a good reputation even among the first Arabs at the time of their arrival in the West, they called them by the name of al badinjian, which means "devil's egg". the Spaniards of the time were the cause of diseases such as hysteria, epilepsy, tuberculosis and cancer. But they have also been the subject of one conspiracy theory like the current ones on chemtrails intentionally released into the air by strong powers to produce climate change, on 5G the new telecommunications technology with very high data transfer speed which would be only a means to implement mass control in memory of the novel 1984 by G. Orwell, or on no-vax vaccines, which would be another means of the usual strong powers for demographic control or even control of people's brains.
Even then, therefore, the usual strong powers would have used the harmless aubergines for an insidious war between East and West. Second Gabriel Alonso de Herrera, an agronomist of a certain fame, cardinal and obviously Castilian, from the fifteenth century, it was necessary to beware of their consumption convinced that “the Arabs brought it to Europe to kill Christians with it”. In short, a project a la Bin Laden ante litteram.
Fortunately, his countrymen did not pay much attention to him and began to assimilate many tasty recipes of dishes and sauces invented by the Arabs based on aubergines, and even the converted Jews ate them at will.
Time proved them right. AND there were even those who came to attribute aphrodisiac powers to aubergines, which, as you can imagine, helped to spread their use in the kitchen
For reasons of climate in our country they originally spread especially in the central-southern areas from Lazio to Sicily but they are also widespread in Greece where they are the basis of two national dishes such as Moussakà and melitzanosalata.
Over time, it has also been discovered that eggplants also have many beneficial properties.
They are a source of fiber, and therefore very useful in case of constipation. Also they are recommended in diets in case of anemia, atherosclerosis, oliguria and gout after it has been discovered that they have purifying, diuretic and anti-inflammatory virtues.
They also contain chlorogenic acid and Ansuina, a phenolic compound with powerful antioxidant effects as it acts against free radicals, fighting aging.
At the end of the holidays, if someone in Milan still wants to breathe the atmosphere of the small Greek restaurants by the sea, there is nothing better than the Moussakà of Vasiliki Kouzina Restaurant & Deli by Vasiliki Pierrakea, in Via Clusone.
“I was born near the sea – she says about herself – and under the protective shadow of the Taygeto, in Kalamata, the city of black olives! I left my city at the age of 18 to study economics at the University of Patras, but after a sentimental disappointment, I took ship and found myself in Italy for the first time. I fell in love.
The first stop was Rome and after an encouraging chance encounter, I decided to move to Milan. So I left Greece with little money, not knowing what my future would be like, and without fear. As a child I learned to dare; my grandfather used to say: "throw yourself into everything, you just need to know when and how to get out of it ... and if you go back and you don't know how to eat, drink and love even if you have done everything else, for me you have failed" ... Cooking for me is like the wild sound of decline, a sound that contains so much pain and so much passion… an odyssey… my sailor, my shepherd, my Penelope, the mountain, the port… a mosaic of feelings! I created Vasiliki Kouzina to get closer to everything the heart desires…
The first recipe of Moussaka goes back to the Arabs. Mention of it is found in an Arab book from the 1920th century. The same name has Arabic origins and comes from the word mussaqqa'ah which means "cooled". During the Ottoman period, beef was added to the original ingredients of Moussaka (aubergines and tomatoes). But it was only in XNUMX that a chef born in Constantinople added béchamel (a French ingredient) to the ingredients of Moussaka to give it a European touch. Thus was born the original recipe of the Greek Moussaka as we know it today.
The recipe proposed to Mondo Food readers by Vasiliki Pierrakea, who will welcome you to her restaurant pouring all her love for her land but also the desire to embark on innovative paths with her original cuisine, is a modern variation of the iconic dish of the greek cuisine.
The recipe: crunchy Moussaka
Ingredients for people 4
6 medium eggplants
sunflower oil
extra virgin olive oil
sale
pepper
2 pcs of star anise
4 bay leaves
200gr of minced beef
2 tablespoons tomato paste
25g diced celery
25g diced white onion
25g diced carrots
grated Parmesan cheese
flour
albumen
bread crumbs
transparent film
150g of Greek yoghurt
1 orange
2 file
Red wine
Method
In a high-sided pot, fry the celery, carrot and onion with a drizzle of oil, star anise and bay leaves. When the onion is translucent, add the meat and blend over very high heat with half a glass of red wine. After half an hour, add two tablespoons of tomato paste and cook for two hours until the liquid is well absorbed. Leave the ragu to cool.
In the meantime, cut the aubergines into slices lengthwise and fry in plenty of sunflower oil. Once fried, let them cool down then add about 100 g of fairly seasoned grated Parmesan to the ragù and season with salt and pepper.
Spread the filling on a cling film and place the aubergine slices side by side on two specular layers without leaving any space so as to have two rows of aubergines.
Put the filling in the center of the aubergines as if it were a long cylinder and wrap it in cling film, creating a rollé, a long roll. Place the roll in the freezer.
Once frozen, remove the film and pass it twice (double breading) in flour, egg white and breadcrumbs.
Then deep fry it in hot oil until it is hot at the heart (check the temperature with a toothpick). Once fried, cut it into slices.
For the accompanying sauce: add the oil, salt, pepper and the orange and lime zests to the Greek yoghurt (make the zests using the microplane).
Vasiliki Kouzina Restaurant & Deli
via Clusone 6
20135 Milan
+39 02 94381405
