Going Greek

The last couple of days I've been on a real eggplant kick. Don't ask me why, it just spoke to me and I am rolling with it like a champ. Last night was garlic eggplant with rice, and tonight we have....

Moussaka! A tasty, hearty, totally awesome Greek/Middle Eastern casserole dish that will warm you right to the very core. My friend Leah described it as "lasagna made with eggplant instead of noodles", which is a very apt description. Of course, that makes it sound a tad healthy, which is a bit of a stretch. It starts out with good intentions, and then goes all rogue with a solid helping of bechamel sauce.

December Desserts

I told myself that December would be full of posts about holiday foodstuffs, and just look at how I've failed! Since I wasn't able to deliver on that front, I'll just give summary of some of the golden moments of the last month of 2011:

1. Maple Bacon Cupcakes

New-fangled Squash Lasagna

This lasagna is a real crowd pleaser: creamy without being oily with a good punch of squashiness. It lacks the often painfully long lasagna prep and is very easy to throw together. I've gotten a lot of compliments on this pan o' noodles, and we all know how much I love to be flattered.

Venison bourguignon (aka How to make the best out of a roadkill situation)

Dinner parties are one of my favorite things in the world. I love to plan the meal, turn on the backyard twinkly lights, and spend the whole day cooking something fabulous. When a hunk of deer turns up in your neighbor's freezer, you know it's time for a dinner party of your own.

My own dear neighbors offered up some of their venison (not roadkill, sadly) for last night's soiree and it was pure perfection. We found a tasty looking recipe on Pinterest and, with a few tweaks, it was soon our very own:

Venison bourguignon with crispy roast potatoes. 

Nonnie Sauce (Majorly delicious spaghetti and meatballs)

This is a very old Pelliccia family recipe that my dear father has consented to promote on the interwebs via my blog. Consider yourselves quite lucky, because this meal is a real treat!

The recipe was created by my great-grandmother Rosa, a southern Italian from Vico Equense whose family immigrated in the late 1860s on their very own vessel. She married my great-grandfather, Orlando, whose family was from Verni, a small town in northern Italy right outside of Lucca. I was actually fortunate enough to meet this branch of our family a few years ago, where we learned that Orlando was born in the Puccini house. No one knows why, but it's our claim to fame!