Menu ideas and recipes for ground lamb, eggplant, broccoli rabe, speckled sea trout, green beans, vegetables, and pesto
Sunday dinner: moussaka
The dinner highlight of our week was a moussaka recipe from Bon Appétit. In an attempt to save time, I broiled the eggplant slices instead of roasting them, but I’m not sure I saved any time since I had to broil two sheet pans.
I adapted the recipe in additional ways: used ½ teaspoon each of cinnamon and allspice instead of a cinnamon stick, jalapeno instead of a Fresno pepper, cottage cheese instead of farmers cheese, and pureed the tomatoes with an immersion blender before adding them. Despite spending a few hours on this—I’m slow on Sundays—the dish was incredibly delicious.
On the side, broccoli rabe sauteed with onions, garlic, red pepper flakes, and tomatoes—I’ve been in a broccoli rabe mood lately.
Family fish favorite
Another night, we had speckled trout ala mummy Lorraine. For those who aren’t Reids, that’s baked fish with a topping of crushed Ritz crackers, lemon zest, garlic salt, and melted butter. We probably enjoyed this family classic with cod or scrod once a week growing up—we ate a lot of fish—and still enjoy it every time we go home.
Veggie ideas
On the side, a recipe I will make again: green beans with toasted slivered almonds, served with a roasted sweet potato. Ok, nuked for several minutes than finished in the toaster oven.
I didn’t have a green veg one night, so I sauteed broccoli stems, carrots and grape tomatoes from the produce drawer, and tossed them with defrosted basil pesto and Parmesan cheese.
Wishing you joy in the kitchen and at the table!
Grabbing the Gusto 
Moussaka is a favourite in our house too. I use a recipe from The Guardian newspaper which always works out well.
I’ll look for that one, although the BA recipe is so good, I’d be reluctant to try another.