America's Test Kitchen (2000–…): Season 21, Episode 11 - Mediterranean Comfort Food - full transcript

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-Welcome to "America's
Test Kitchen" at home.

Today, I'm making
a wonderful Greek pastitsio,

Jack's gonna tell us
all about feta cheese,

and Lan has an amazing recipe
for braised eggplant.

We've got a lot in store today,
so stick around.

♪♪



-If David Letterman had
ever made a top 10 list

of his favorite casseroles,

I think this would have been
at number one.

It's pastitsio.

It's a beautiful Greek casserole
with noodles, two sauces,

and it's so amazing to make
and even better to eat.

And let's start off
with the meat sauce.

We are using ground beef.

You can find different
grades of beef,

and we want a very lean beef.

This is 93 percent lean.

And that's because pastitsio
is really, really rich.

So in this bowl here,
I have a tablespoon of water.

We just need 1/4 teaspoon
of baking soda.



And that helps meat
to hang on to its moisture

and also keeps it nice
and tender as it cooks.

And 3/4 teaspoon
of table salt.

Just using table salt here

because it's going to dissolve
very quickly.

Good enough.

All right, so again,
this is 93 percent lean beef.

This is only 8 ounces.

That's all we're gonna need
for this casserole.

Just plop that right in there.

So we're just tossing this,
breaking it up a little bit.

Make sure that the solution
is covering all of the meat.

Don't need to go crazy here.
I'm gonna set this aside.

All right.
So, let's start cooking.

Got a medium saucepan here.

I'm going to add about
a tablespoon of vegetable oil.

I'm gonna turn this
to medium heat.

We want that oil
to just start to shimmer.

I need 1/2 a cup
of finely chopped onion.

I'll probably only use about
1/2 of this onion.

So, to finely mince, basically,
it's just like chopping,

but you're making your cuts
about 1/8 inch apart.

And then I'm gonna make
my vertical cuts

and then right across.

And then any big pieces,

I'm just gonna rock
my knife back and forth.

All right.
So that looks pretty good.

This is going to go
into the sauce pan.

We're gonna cook this until
the onions are just softened.

We're not really looking
for a lot of color.

That's gonna take
about three minutes.

And while those onions
are cooking,

I'm gonna go get my garlic.

I like to buy pre-peeled garlic
in bulk, and then I freeze them.

That way, they can last
a long, long time.

I only need three right now.

And I'm gonna let these
soften for just a few seconds

while I work on the spices.

And I'm gonna
pre-measure these

because we're gonna add them
to the saucepan

all at the same time.

So let's start off with
a teaspoon of dried oregano.

And paprika --
a teaspoon of this.

This is just regular paprika,
not the smoked or the hot.

Now we've got 1/8 teaspoon
of red-pepper flakes.

And let me grab my pepper here.

So, I'll always grind
a little bit ahead of time

and just keep it right
in this ramekin.

I'm gonna use 1/8 teaspoon
of pepper, as well.

All right.

Now here's where the Greek
flavors really come in.

We're gonna use 1 1/4 teaspoons
of brown cinnamon.

Cinnamon is what gives this
that really warm flavor.

And you'll find it
in a lot of Greek dishes.

But it is amazing here.

I love that they use
this spice not only for sweet,

but for savory foods.

And then finally, mint.

Now, this is dried mint,
which is spearmint.

You don't want
to use peppermint.

It's really hard to find dried
peppermint in the first place.

But if you did, you wouldn't
want to use it here.

Spearmint is really
what you want to use.

They're very different flavors.

And we need a teaspoon of that.

All right. You know that
this is gonna taste amazing.

So now let's get back
to that garlic.

These have softened up
just a little bit.

We're gonna use a rasp grater
to grate the garlic.

And you can do that,
usually, any time

that you want to mince garlic

or if you're gonna
put it through a press.

I like to grate frozen,
slightly softened garlic.

All right. Best part of
grating garlic is the wham!

And then all that goes
right into the spices.

Okay, so, let's take a look
at the onions.

They soften just a little bit.

Again, we're not looking
for a lot of color.

So, now the garlic and the
spices are all going to go in

at the same time.

Cook this for about a minute,

maybe up to two minutes,
until it gets really fragrant.

Now, some tomato sauces will use
quite a bit of red wine.

This actually only uses 1/4 cup.

And you want to use a red wine
that you would enjoy drinking.

A Pinot Noir or something
like that is perfect.

So, now we're gonna add
that 1/4 cup of red wine.

We're gonna cook this
until it's reduced,

and the whole mixture
gets quite thick.

It's gonna take about
three minutes.

All right. Now we're gonna
add tomato paste.

This is 1/3 cup of tomato paste.

Then we're gonna add
the meat mixture here.

Great.

And 1/2 cup of water.

It doesn't look
very good right now.

That is accurate.

All this is going to
come together.

Break up the meat
into very small pieces

as much as possible.

That is now simmering.

We're gonna turn this
down to low.

I'll put the lid on.

I'm gonna let this cook
until all those flavors melt.

That will take about 30 minutes.

♪♪

All right, let's check this.
It's been a half an hour.

And it has changed
in appearance.

A lot of that liquid
has evaporated.

We want the sauce
to be quite tight.

So when we layer it in the dish,
it will stay in one nice layer.

Now, you can make this
up to three days in advance

and keep it in your fridge.

So, I'm gonna cover this.
Slide it off heat.

Now, a pastitsio is topped
with Béchamel,

and Béchamel is also used
to bind that pasta layer.

We're gonna start off
with a little bit of butter.

About 2 tablespoons.

Goes right into a saucepan,

and we'll put this
over medium heat.

While that's melting,

we need 2 tablespoons
all-purpose flour.

A little bit of table salt.
We've got 1/2 teaspoon.

Grated nutmeg.

This is another one of those
warm spices

that really makes
this dish special.

So, I'm gonna use a rasp grater.

And I need about 1/4 teaspoon.
I like to use whole nutmeg.

I don't like the
pre-ground nutmeg.

I don't know what
they put in there,

but it doesn't
taste like nutmeg.

There we go. And a little bit
of black pepper.

This is 1/8 teaspoon
of black pepper.

And then I've got my garlic
back out again.

This was frozen. It's thawed
a little bit on the counter.

Again, just using
the rasp grater.

Make quick work out of that
garlic clove.

Gonna add that in there.
All right.

So, let's check out
our sauce pan.

The butter is just about melted.
That looks great.

So, I'm gonna add in
the flour mixture.

No seasonings. There we go.

I'll cook this
for about a minute.

We're not looking for, really,
any color change here.

We just want to get rid
of the raw flour flavor.

Now, this is a basic roux here.

We've got equal parts
fat and flour.

And a good thing to know
with a roux

is that the darker that it gets,

you're gonna get
a lot more flavor,

but it starts to lose
its thickening power.

So, again, we're just looking
to cook off the raw flavor.

That smells amazing.
Just a little bit toasty.

Don't want to take it
much farther than that.

And now I'm going to
whisk in our dairy.

This is 4 cups of whole milk.

Start off slowly, and then once
you've whisked quite a bit in,

you can add the rest
much quicker.

All right. That's looking good.

Now we're gonna bring
this up to simmer.

And then while
that's heating up,

I'm going to weigh some pasta.

I want to use 8 ounces of ziti.

Now, typically with pastitsio,

you might find recipes
call for Greek #2 macaroni.

That's actually the shape.

It's a long, tubular
piece of pasta.

It can be a little hard to find.
If you can find it, great.

It works here really well.

But if you can't find it,
ziti is perfect.

All right. We've got
some bubbling going on here.

Just give it a quick whisk,
and then

I'm going to add the pasta
right into the Béchamel.

So we don't even need
to cook it separately.

Let me stir that in,

and I want this
to come back up to a simmer.

Now, the great thing about this
is, of course, it saves time.

I don't have to cook
the pasta separately.

But some of that starch
from the pasta

is going to help
to thicken the Béchamel.

So in the meantime,
we can grate some cheese

And we are using Kasseri cheese.

Now, this is a
sheep's milk cheese.

Sometimes it's cow's milk,
sometimes it's goat's milk,

but it has a really beautiful
nutty and tangy flavor.

So, this is 4 ounces.

That equals about a cup
of grated cheese.

But if you can't find
Kasseri cheese,

you can use a 2:1 ratio --

two parts provolone
to one part Pecorino-Romano.

Again, it's got to have
that nice sheepy flavor.

There we go. Let's take a look
at our mixture here.

It's just about coming up
to a simmer.

I actually just want
to stir it so that

the pasta isn't
sticking at this point.

I'm gonna turn the heat off,
put the lid on,

and we're gonna let
that pasta cook

in that hot mixture
for about 15 minutes.

♪♪

Let's take a look in here.

Again, the pasta
wasn't simmering in there,

just kind of steeping in there.

And it's just slightly softened,
and that's perfect.

Again, we don't want to
overcook it at this point

because it's gonna continue
to cook in the dish.

I'm gonna transfer this now
to an 8-inch baking dish.

And I've gone ahead
and sprayed this

with vegetable oil
cooking spray.

I'm leaving that Béchamel
behind in the sauce pan here.

There's still a little bit
on the pasta

that's going to help
to make it nice and cohesive.

All right. I think I got
all the ziti at this point.

So now I'm going to add a little
bit of that Kasseri cheese.

Again, this was a cup total.
So I'm going to add 1/3 cup.

Just sprinkle it
right over the pasta here.

And then toss this just

so that the cheese
starts to melt a little bit.

All right.

And now, speaking of meat sauce,

just gonna dollop it
over the top.

You can see why we wanted this
to have a nice tight texture.

It's a very cohesive sauce.

I'll use the spatula just to
spread that into an even layer.

Looking good.

Now, before I add the Béchamel,

I'm going to add in
1/3 more of the cheese,

and I will whisk that in.

This is going to help
to tighten the Béchamel

as well as making it just
really cheesy and delicious.

And then I'm going to add
one more ingredient -- one egg,

and I'll beat it
a little bit here.

That's going to help to tighten
the Béchamel even further.

You got to be quick
about that, though.

You don't want any
scrambled eggs in your Béchamel.

So, we have our noodles.

We have the layer
of the meat sauce.

Let's get that Béchamel
on there.

Oh, yeah. Nice big layer.
[ Sighs ]

One more layer of cheese,
because why not?

So, again, this is the remaining
1/3 cup of Kasseri cheese.

Beautiful. Now, you can see
how far up in the pan this is.

And that probably explains

why I'm baking it
on a rimmed baking sheet.

This is going to go into
a 375 degree oven.

It's gonna stay in there
between 40 and 50 minutes.

Gonna look for that top
to get very brown.

♪♪

Oh, whoa! Look at that.

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh!

All right, I'm gonna
put it right here.

Gorgeous. Bubbling.

So, obviously, I'm not gonna
tuck into this right away.

I'm gonna let this sit for
20 minutes, let it cool down.

And, also, I want all of those
layers to become more cohesive.

♪♪

As promised, 20 minutes, and
look how nice and cool it is.

It's still hot inside,
believe me,

but it's cool enough to cut.

It looks just about
good enough to eat.

Oh, you can see
that layer of Béchamel there

and then the meat sauce.

And, of course, we have
all that ziti underneath.

I want to make sure I get a bite
with everything on it.

Oh, my gosh.

It is so supple, and it's rich
without being too fatty.

Now, I've heard that you can
keep leftovers of this,

but I've never come across any.

This is absolutely amazing.

And remember the keys
to making pastitsio at home --

soak the beef with baking soda,

use ziti, and cook the ziti
in the Béchamel.

So, from "America's
Test Kitchen" at home,

an Olympian-worthy pastitsio.

♪♪

-When you do something
for 3,000 years,

chances are you learn something.

Yeah, you heard me right.

They've been making
feta cheese in Greece

for 3,000 years --
at least 3,000.

And we know this
because there are references

to making feta
in Homer's "The Odyssey."

So if you learn anything
during this segment,

I want you to learn one thing --

buy the real deal from Greece.

Now, this isn't just about
respecting tradition

because you know
I'm all about the flavor.

This cheese tastes better,
and there's a reason

why Greek feta --
frankly, any European feta,

because they all need to follow
the same EU regulations.

They must be made with a minimum
of 70 percent sheep's milk.

It can be a blend
of sheep or goat

or 100 percent sheep.

American supermarket cheeses --

all the brands we tasted
were made with cow's milk.

And there are really
two problems here.

One is sheep and goat
have twice as much fat as cow.

The other thing is that they
have these essential fatty acids

that cow's milk doesn't have --

the things that make it
gamey and savory,

the thing that makes it feta.

So, what do
American manufacturers do

to compensate for the fact
that they're making something

that doesn't taste like feta?

They add a lot of salt,
and I mean a lot of salt.

And I usually like salty things.
It's just too salty.

So buy a feta made
by the Greek tradition,

and ideally, buy it from Greece.

Second thing is
buy it in a block.

I know what you're thinking.

"I don't need to buy
block cheese

because I'm gonna
crumble it anyway.

I should just be buying it
already pre-crumbled."

There are two problems
with that strategy,

and it's not a good strategy.

Number one -- the crumbled
cheeses are made domestically,

so that means they're made
with cow's milk,

and they don't have
that much flavor.

The second thing is in order
to keep the crumbles separate,

they're coated with cellulose,
and it dries it out.

Now, if you're gonna
take the shortcut,

you can buy this brand.

This one we thought was
passable, acceptable -- Athenos.

And the reason why it's better
than the competition

is you see here, the crumbles
are actually pretty big.

And so the ratio of cheese
to cellulose is a little better.

In some of the crumbled cheeses,

frankly, it was
more like feta dust.

So, what are we gonna do?

We're gonna respect tradition

and remember what the Greeks
have taught us.

We're gonna buy the real deal
made from sheep's milk,

and we're going to buy it
in big, beautiful blocks.

♪♪

-When people ask me what my
favorite kitchen gadget is,

I often tell them
it's kitchen towels,

and they get this look
on their face

like they don't
quite understand.

But what can I say?
I like to keep things clean.

And I like to have three
different types of towels

on hand all the time.

I like having these
small microfiber ones.

They're good for
cleaning up the counter.

They're good for
wiping down the stove.

And they are a good
emergency sponge

if I've run out of those
for washing dishes.

Next up are these
French side towels.

They're nice and thick.

I often fold them off
to the side of my cutting board,

and I lay my knives on them.

They're also a good makeshift
potholder when they're dry.

And I like using them
for drying heavy-duty things

like pots and pans because
they're really absorbent.

Last but not least
are these flour-sack towels,

and they're huge and very thin.

So I like using them
to dry my hands,

and I like using them

to dry delicate things like
wine glasses or my good china,

because you can really grasp
the plate between the towel.

So it's not gonna
fall on the floor.

Now, if I have
a big cooking day,

like around the holidays,

I go through, easily,
10, 15 towels in a day.

And what I do is I put a hamper
in the corner of the kitchen,

and when one gets dirty
or a little wet,

I just toss it into the hamper.

[ Laughs ]
And it's its own fun.

♪♪

-I grew up eating eggplant,
braised in soy and ginger,

and I just love
that silky texture.

Today, I'm gonna share
with you a little riff on that,

and it's gonna be
that same awesome texture,

but with Mediterranean flavors.

So, I've got two eggplant here.

It's really important
to find eggplant

that are about
8 to 10 ounces apiece.

These are globe eggplants.

But you could use Japanese
or Italian eggplant

if you wanted,
as long as they're smallish.

I'm gonna start by cutting
bottom and the top

from the eggplant.

After the top
and bottom come off,

want to cut
this eggplant in half

and then stand it
on the larger flat side

so that it's nice and steady
and not wobbly.

And I'm gonna
cut them into wedges.

What I'm shooting for is
about 3/4-inch pieces.

And this shape is critical
because it provides

a nice swath of skin that holds
all this flesh in place.

Otherwise, these can
kind of fall apart.

So, the other reason you want
to use small eggplant --

they have a smaller seed pocket.

As eggplants get larger,
this seed pocket

in here gets really big.

And it is the first bit
that kind of disintegrates

when you go to cook this.

One last bit of knife work.

I need to mince some garlic --
two cloves.

So, I like to smash the garlic
before I run a knife through it

because that bruising
and damaging of the cells

gets me kind of
a stronger garlic flavor.

That looks great.
Next up, the spices.

And this is where
we get all of that flavor.

I have a tablespoon
of tomato paste.

I like to use the stuff
in a tube.

I don't go through that much,
and so when I get the cans,

I end up just having to, like,
leave it in the freezer

and then throw it out
a couple of months later.

Next, I've got paprika here.
I need 2 teaspoons.

I've got one teaspoon
of table salt,

one teaspoon of coriander,

1/2 teaspoon of sugar,

1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg,

1/2 teaspoon of ginger,

1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon,

and last up,
1/2 teaspoon of cumin.

I know this seems like
a lot of spices,

but they blend together
really well

and you get this kind of smoky,
sweet, earthy flavor.

It's fantastic.

I've got 3 tablespoons
of vegetable oil

in this
12-inch nonstick skillet.

And now that the oil
is shimmering,

I'm gonna add my garlic,

and I just want to toast
this out really gently.

I'm not looking
for a ton of color.

It's only gonna take
about 30 seconds.

This seems pretty good.

Next up, the tomato paste
and spices.

And here I want to kind of smear
that tomato paste into the pan,

and that's to help break up
any lumps of tomato paste.

I really want to make sure
that paste is well-toasted

and its flavor is getting
infused into this oil.

Next up, the eggplant.

And it's okay that this pan
is a little bit crowded.

It's not a problem.

I'm just gonna add
2 3/4 cups of water

and crank the heat to high.

Once this comes up to a boil,
we're gonna cover it

and let everything kind of steam
and braise simultaneously.

So this is looking great.

There's a nice
rolling boil going.

I'm gonna now turn this down.

If I left it so that it was
boiling this hard

the entire time,

the eggplant at the center
would kind of fall apart.

So, this looks great.

I'm not seeing
giant areas of bubbling.

I'm seeing just little
pockets of bubbling,

and that's all I want.

I'm gonna cover this.

And this is gonna braise
for about 15 minutes.

About halfway through,

I'm gonna come by,
give it a shake.

At that point, the eggplant
will have collapsed enough

that it will sit in there
in one single layer.

♪♪

So, this has been cooking
for 15 minutes,

and we're gonna keep
cooking this eggplant

while we turn this
braising liquid into a glaze.

It's gonna take
12 to 14 minutes

to reduce this liquid down
to a couple tablespoons.

And every so often,
I'm just gonna come by

and give this a shake,
make sure things are moving

and cooking evenly.

While this is going,

I need about 2 tablespoons
of mint cilantro.

I think its flavor complements

the spices in this dish
really nicely.

The stems that are really small,
like these guys over here --

they're fine in this dish.

They've got tons of flavor.

I don't see the point
in throwing them away.

So I don't bother
with stacking herbs.

I just kind of gather it
all together in a tight bundle

without actually
crushing anything.

And then I run my knife through,
first in one direction.

And then turn the entire bundle
and come across one more time.

So, yeah, that's it. This is
more than 2 tablespoons.

So, it's been about 15 minutes,
and this has really come down.

You can see how nice
and thick that glaze is.

I may cut the heat
and get this off the stove.

This smells amazing.

I just want to give this
a quick taste

and check the seasoning on here.

It might need a little
salt and pepper.

Actually, I think
the salt's pretty good,

but I'm gonna add
just a touch of pepper.

This dish looks amazing,

so I'm gonna make
a little plate for myself.

I really like to finish this

with some fresh
and cool flavors.

I've got a little bit
of whole-milk yogurt --

just going to drizzle
a touch on here.

It's about 1/3 cup
for the entire dish.

And last up, that cilantro
I minced earlier.

Oh, I can't wait. This eggplant
held together beautifully.

You can see all the pieces
are still intact,

and they have their shape,
still, thanks to that skin.

And that skin is crazy soft.

And it's just tender and velvety
and creamy and delicious.

I could have this
for dinner with,

like, some rice
and that'd be enough.

It's so great.

And we've got a couple other

flavor variations
on the website.

You should absolutely
check them out.

And whichever variation you try,
just remember,

be sure to buy small eggplant
and cut them properly,

braise them gently,

and reduce that braising liquid
into a glaze.

So, from "America's
Test Kitchen" at home,

a terrific recipe
for braised eggplant

with paprika,
coriander, and yogurt.

-Thanks for watching.

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