My mind’s eye keeps travelling back to December 2010 and my first bite of “fundraiser moussaka” purchased from the back kitchen at the Greek Orthodox Church in Oshawa, Ontario. It’s the best I’ve ever eaten. And what with growing up in my best friend’s Greek kitchen in the early ’70s and living a stone’s throw from Toronto’s Greektown for a lot of my life, suffice to say, moussaka is in my blood.

I can’t tell you how happy I was to return to the church kitchen this afternoon and find the same ladies behind the counter dishing out homemade, front-scratch lemon-oregano rice, roasted potatoes, shish kebabs, spanakopita, dolmades, baklava and, of course, their decadent multi-layered moussaka.

I tried chatting them up in hopes they’d talk moussaka-speak. But they’re crafty, this lot of blessed cooking babes. They feigned not understanding, shook their heads collectively, spoke to one another in their mother tongue.

It’s not that I don’t want to support their cause. I do! It’s just that I really want to try my hand recreating their dish in my own kitchen. Perfected, I could whip up a pan of moussaka at midnight should the fancy take me.

I couldn’t trust myself to stay the course and not eat the test subject before deconstructing it so I bought two portions of moussaka. I chowed down the first piece in record time. God. Just like I remembered. So friggin’ good it ought to be illegal. Or at least cost more than the paltry $4 they charge. This is a regular Thursday afternoon fundraiser for the church. They’re never going to reach their building fund goals with these prices. This thought must have been playing on my mind because I told the lady to keep the change from my sawbuck.

Satiated, I went to work on the second piece of moussaka, ever-so-gently pulling back the layers, a notebook and pen at the ready to record my findings.

For one thing, they use ground beef, not traditional ground lamb which is way more expensive and wouldn’t allow them to dish it out at four bucks a pop. What I couldn’t figure out is whether or not they cook off the potato and eggplant slices before assembling the moussaka. I’ve made moussaka countless times and always par-boil the potatoes and oven bake the eggplant slices before incorporating them into the dish. But the texture of the potatoes and eggplant in the fundraiser moussaka was way different than mine. I’m thinking they’re cooked off first but maybe using a different method. Perhaps they steam the potato slices and pan fry the eggplant?

Time and testing (and re-testing) will tell.

Annunciation Of The Virgin Mary Greek Orthodox Church
hosted by The Hellenic Orthodox Community of Oshawa in the church hall,
261 Bloor Street East, Oshawa, ON L1H 3M3
(905) 728-5969 eat in or take out
Catering for all occasions call (905) 725-3083‎
Greek food served every Thursday 11 am to 4 pm