Moussaka, Halloumi Wraps, and Microwave Tips | Full Episode | America’s Test Kitchen (S24 E20)

Today’s episode is all about Mediterranean​ meals. To start, Keith Dresser shows Bridget Lancaster how to make the apex of casseroles, moussaka, with half the work. Lisa McManus and Hannah Crowley show you how to utilize your microwave like a real cooking tool, instead of as a reheating machine. Finally, Dan Souza demonstrates the power of halloumi cheese in a bright, salty, and smoky pita wrap for Julia Collin Davison

Winner – Breville BMO650SIL Compact Wave Soft Close Countertop Microwave Oven: https://cooks.io/3UaP04u

Best Microwave Ovens: https://cooks.io/3HiO5vN

Moussaka Recipe: https://cooks.io/45Hiqg3
Grilled Halloumi Wraps Recipe: https://cooks.io/3Hj3KLF

00:00 Intro
00:20 Moussaka
11:33 Gear Heads: Best Microwave Oven
15:35 Grilled Halloumi Wrap

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[Music] Today on America’s Test Kitchen, Keith makes Bridget Musaka, Hannah and Lisa share how to get the most out of your microwave, and Dan makes Julia grilled halumi wraps. It’s all coming up right here on America’s Test Kitchen. [Music] I am very excited because today we’re making musaka. This beautiful assembled strda of eggplant, potatoes, ground meat, bashimal. I think this might just be the apex, the best of all casserles. Very excited. And I’m even more excited because Keith is here and he’s going to show me how to make it. Yeah. I’m going to show you how to make it. And I’m also going to show you some ways to streamline it because let’s be honest, with all those layers and stratas, it takes some time to put it together. So, let’s start with our eggplant. It is the iconic vegetable in this. So, I’m going to start with 3 and 12 lbs. I have one remaining here to cut up. And what we’re going to do is we’re going to cut this into 3/4 in chunks. I like to cut the eggplant in half to make it a little bit more manageable for myself. Right. Lay the planks down. Okay. Now, you need to cook the eggplant, right? you cook it. So, we’re actually going to turn to the oven and we’re going to roast this. So, I have it on two rim baking sheets. I’ve sprayed the foil with nonstick cooking spray so it doesn’t stick. You’re going to help me here. We’re going to take a/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil. We’re just going to drizzle this over the eggplant. And next up is a/ teaspoon of table salt and 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper. All right. And all we have to do is toss that. Make sure that that oil is distributed. That’s looking great. Now, I’ve preheated our oven to 450 degrees. I have two racks in there. So, half an hour. And I’m going to rotate them around 180° while it’s roasting. Okay. While the eggplant is roasting in the oven, we’re going to focus on the potatoes. Okay. So, I have 1 and 12 lbs of Yukon Gold potatoes that I’ve sliced a/4 inch thick here. And I’m going to toss them with three tablespoons of olive oil, one teaspoon of table salt, and 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper. So, I’m just going to put a plate on this, and I’m going to microwave these for 8 to 10 minutes. And really, we want to have these potatoes almost 100% cooked. They’re going to be tender. Okay, it’s been 8 minutes, and we’ll check the dness of our potatoes. Take the plate off here. Now I’ll check for dness by just taking a pairing knife and making sure that the pairing knife goes in and out without any resistance. So I’m going to transfer the potatoes to a 13×9 baking dish that’s been brushed with two teaspoons of olive oil. Like that. And now we’re just going to let these cool until they’re cool enough to handle which takes about 15 minutes or so. Okay, half an hour is up and let’s check on our eggplant. Oh, beautiful. Smells great. That is absolutely perfect. So, I’m going to ask you to close that. And if you could reduce the oven temperature to 400°, that would be great. You got it. While the eggplant cools, we can focus on our tomato sauce. So, I have 1 tbsp of olive oil that I’ve heated over medium heat. And we’re just looking for the oil to shimmer, which it is. That’s perfect. And then we’re going to add one onion. And we’re going to add a/ teaspoon of salt. And we’re just going to cook this, stirring occasionally, until the onions start to brown, which will take 6 to 8 minutes. Okay. Okay. That is looking good. We have some nice golden brown color on our onions. I’m going to add four cloves of minced garlic. And I’ll mix that into the onions. And we’re going to cook this for 1 minute until that garlic turns fragrant. Okay, the garlic is cooked. And now I’m going to add 1 tbsp of tomato paste. This tomato paste will brown a little bit, give us some body, heighten the tomato flavor. Okay, that tomato paste is cooked. It’s taken about 2 minutes to get that dark red brick color. Now I’m going to add a/2 cup of red wine. And I’m just going to stir that. Make sure we get any fond off the bottom. Now I’m going to add our spices. I have two teaspoons of paprika. 2 tsp of dried oregano. I have a/ teaspoon of pepper flake for a little bit of heat. And then just 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon. We’re just going to cook this until that wine starts to reduce down. on the pan will look dry and that will take about 2 minutes to happen. It’s been 2 minutes and you can see that the pan is dry. That red wine has reduced down and concentrated. Now, we’re going to add one lb of 80% lean ground beef. So, we’re just going to cook this, stirring occasionally until that beef starts to lose its pink color, and that will take 4 to 5 minutes. Okay, so the beef has lost its pink color. And now it’s time to add our 14 1/2 ounce can of crushed tomatoes here. So, we’re just going to stir the tomato in here. We’re just going to let this simmer for 6 to 8 minutes. And what we’re looking for is we want that pan to be fairly dry. We want a fairly dry sauce here. We don’t need a lot of moisture. It’s been 8 minutes. We can check on the progress of our sauce. Smells great. And you can see that it’s actually quite dry. This exactly what we’re looking for. So, I’m going to shut that heat off. And then I’m just going to add two teaspoons of red wine vinegar. Bring out those flavors. Give it a little bit of acidity. And now we can focus on the crown of the musaka, which is a cheesy beshmal sauce. So I have a medium saucepan here and I have six tablespoons of unsalted butter that I’ve melted. Now I will add a/2 cup of allpurpose flour. Whisk that in until everything is incorporated. It’s been 1 minute. You can see that it’s started to take on a little bit of a golden color. That’s all we need here. Now I’ll add our dairy. I have 2 and 1/2 cups of whole milk. And I’ll just start to whisk this in slowly at first. Okay, we have our rue and our dairy all mixed together. It’s nice and smooth. Now, I’m going to slowly bring this up to a boil, whisking constantly. And it will take about 5 minutes. And over that 5 minutes, it will thicken nicely. And then after that 5 minutes, we can put our cheese in and finish this. Been whisking this for 5 minutes. So, you can see that it’s at a nice gentle boil. It’s properly thickened. Beautiful. Gorgeous bashimal. So, I’m going to shut the heat off and I’m going to add 4 ounces of caceri cheese. Caseri cheese is a semi firm sheep’s milk cheese from Greece. If you can’t find caceri cheese, you can use pecorino romano and proolone. We have actually have a substitute on our website. We’re just going to whisk that until the cheese is incorporated and melted in there. Look at that. God, doesn’t that look good? Okay, that’s that. Now, I’m just going to add a/4 teaspoon of table salt and an 1/8 teaspoon of ground nutmeg. So, those are incorporated in there. Now, there’s one more ingredient that we’re going to add to this beshmell to make it even more luxurious and custardy, and that’s egg yolks. But, we don’t want to add the egg yolks right now because it will curdle them. So, what I’m going to do is I’m going to get all that off the whisk. And I’m just going to put a lid on this and let that cool down for five minutes. And then we can come back and put our egg yolks in there. Okay, our bes has been cooling for 5 minutes. And now it’s time to add our egg yolks. These egg yolks are going to give this a nice creamy texture. So, I have three egg yolks that I’ve lightly beaten before putting in here. And I’m just going to incorporate that. That is looking absolutely perfect. And now we can get to assembling. So we have our baking dish here with our potatoes. I’m just going to take my hands and slide these potatoes into a nice even layer, shingling them if I have to. Very good. Okay, now our eggplant. Going to spread the eggplant over the potatoes. Just going to take my hands. I’m actually going to use my hand to make sure that we have a nice compact layer. Third layer is our tomato sauce. Yum. Just gonna spread this out to even layer. Final thing, our bes. Just going to give this a stir before I put it on there. Make sure everything is nice and smooth. So, I’m trying to create an even layer when I put this on because I don’t want to pull the meat sauce away from itself. It’s kind of like frosting a cake. You want to make sure that you get the frosting well distributed as it goes on. I’m just kind of taking the sauce from the center and spreading it out to the edges. I’m just going to put this onto a rim baking sheet. And then we’re going to bake this in a 400°ree oven on the middle rack for a half an hour. What we’re looking for is we want that top to be nice and golden brown. It’s going to start to bubble around the edges. It’s going to be fantastic. It’s been a half an hour. Check on our casserole. Thank you. Oh, wow. Oh, perfectly brown and bubbling around the edges. Excellent. See that? Oh my goodness. Okay, this is looking absolutely beautiful. Stunner. But we’re going to have to let this sit for at least a half an hour. We want those kind of layers to be cohesive. So, 30 minutes and then we can eat. Okay, it’s time to cut into our musaka. So, I’m just going to cut it into quarters this way and then cut this way. Time for the big reveal here. Oh, look at that. [Music] Beautiful. Oh my goodness. So many beautiful layers. And they all stayed nice and separate, but they’re compressed together. I’ve got to stop talking and start eating. All right, I got a little bit of eggplant there. Definitely some of the sauce and that cheesy bashameal top. That is pure luxury. It is. That is absolutely beautiful. The eggplant is so silky along with the bshmell on the top. I’m going to get some of the potato because I know the potatoes in there, their job is to soak up everything else that was in the pan. This is absolutely the best musaka I have ever had. Well, if you want to try making this winner of all casserles at home, roast eggplant to drive off moisture, precook the potatoes in the microwave and simmer the tomato meat sauce to ensure a very slicable casserole. Of course, don’t forget to layer everything under a blanket of that caseri bashimal from America’s Test Kitchen. The ultimate Musaka. This is a winner 100%. Love our in-depth reviews? Get the latest from our reviews team delivered straight to your inbox. Our welle equipped cook newsletter provides top product picks, nononsense buying guides, and mustry recipes. No extra fluff, just the smartest ways to shop, save, and cook. Sign up for free now at americasestkitchen.com/newsletter. [Music] If you’re just reheating leftovers and zapping cold coffee in your microwave, you are not getting the most out of it. A microwave oven is a real cooking tool. More and more we’ve been using them to do jobs that they can do easier and faster. Things like frying shallots or melting chocolate or part cooking vegetables or even whipping up a quick side dish by steaming it in the microwave like broccoli or carrots. Today we’re going to talk about how microwaves work, what to look for in a good one, and how to get the most out of yours. It’s important first to understand a little bit about how microwaves work. This is 1940s technology. They’re powered by a vacuum tube called a magnetron. Now, these electromagnetic waves can pass right through containers and only penetrate the food where they vibrate the water and the fat molecules to create heat. But these waves only penetrate less than an inch. So the food is hotter on the outside and colder on the inside. Also, those waves move in a set pattern. So depending on where the food is, it’s going to get more or less power. That’s why the turntable turns, but that only helps a little. Microwaves are a blunt instrument. They are not precise. And while high wattage might sound like a good thing, a lot of manufacturers brag about their high wattage. All it will get you is shriveled overcooked food and exploding butter. On the other end of things, the lower wattage models, we ended up having to add time again and again. It was just inefficient. The ideal was 900 to 1,000 watts. This was the sweet spot. Most frozen food, in fact, is designed right for this range. You can see this mac and cheese totally overcooked, while this one is creamy and delicious. You want to keep it simple when you choose a microwave. Some of the microwaves we tested had fancy features that we just did not find worthwhile. Things like inverter technology that kept the power consistent rather than cycling or scan to cook technology that let you scan product barcodes that send the cooking instructions right to the microwave or voice control or like this one with all its crazy buttons for really specific things like kids meals. What does that even mean? Now, you really want a microwave that anyone can walk up and operate. You do not want to have to get out the user manual. All right, so we’ve talked about how microwaves work, what to look for in a good one. Now, let’s get to how to get the most out of your microwave because, as we mentioned, these are imprecise tools. First of all, you’re going to want to put your food off center. This allows it to pass through those higher and lower radiation zones so it will cook more evenly. Second of all, you want to flip or rotate your food. Again, this will help even out those hot and cold spots. And finally, you want to let your food stand after cooking. anywhere from two to 15 minutes depending on the size and quantity. And again, that will just help those hotter and cooler spots even out. Another great trick we learned, use lower power percentage settings. Now, what before I did this testing, I always microwave everything on full power. When you set your microwave for lower power, like 50% or 70%, you’re giving that food a little more time to cook more gently without scorching. This is also a great way to rein in the power of those high wattage microwaves. So, with some of these tips, we hope you get more out of your microwave. For full testing results and all the details, head to our website. Are you ready to take your cooking to the next level? Introducing the complete America’s Test Kitchen TV show cookbook featuring every recipe from every episode of America’s Test Kitchen. That’s thousands of recipes. That texture is unbelievable. Reviews, gadgets you didn’t know you needed, and tips. Yes, there’s some terrible choices, but there also some amazing choices. We’ve spilled all of our secrets and included our insider notes alongside each recipe. Plus, there’s a handy shopping guide so you know exactly what to grab when you’re at the store. And of course, it makes an excellent gift. Get your copy today at americasestkitchen.com. [Music] Halumi is a traditional cheese from the Mediterranean island of Cyprus. And the cool thing about it is it doesn’t melt, so you can grill it or sear it. And today, Dan’s going to show us how to throw it on the grill with a couple of vegetables. That’s right. We’re going to give new definition to the term grilled cheese today. I like it. So, is amazing. It’s salty and funky. We’re going to really make it the star of this dish. We’re going to wrap it in a warm pa with lots of delicious things. One of those delicious things is some sumac onions. Oh, wow. Yeah. So, they’re going to be tart and crunchy, kind of pickled. Really nice. So, we’re going to start with the red onion here. And I’m just going to trim off both ends. You can tilt your knife and go along the radial curve, the horizon. Yeah. All right. Great. So, now we have our onions here. We’re going to season them up. So, I have three tablespoons of red wine vinegar. And now I have our magic ingredient. I have a tablespoon of ground sumac and 1/4 teaspoon of salt. So, we’re just going to toss this together. It’s about the easiest little pickle we can do. Awesome. So, I’ve got a nice bell pepper here. We’re going to grill this along with the halumi. So, for this, I’m going to knock off about the bottom half inch and top/ inch. And these are beautiful. We’re just going to save them as is. And then for the pepper itself, we’re going to do one slice down and then start opening it up. I bring this to me. And as you go, really just letting your knife go along the the texture of the pepper there. So, we’ll place these over here on our takeout tray. All right, let’s take a look at our beautiful halumi. So, you’ll see it usually packaged, you know, in kind of big pieces like this. And it’s really firm. We’re simply going to cut 1/2 in slices here. Okay. So, we’ve got our 12 oz of halumi sliced into nice half-in planks. All right. So, we’ll transfer this to our takeout tray. A good wrap is all about having contrasting textures and flavors and a lot of interesting stuff happening. So, we’ve got great vegetables. We’re going to have those onions and the cheese, but I want to make a creamy sauce that’s going to pull everything together. So, we’re going to start with two tablespoons of lemon juice. And I have a garlic clove. Just going to use my fine grater here to get that incorporated. Okay. Next, I have a/2 cup of Greek yogurt. And then finally, 1/4 teaspoon of salt. All right. And then I’m going to use an absolutely tiny whisk. And then finally, we’ve got our pas. So I’ve got four 8 in pas here. Nice. We’re going to warm them on the grill. So what I’m going to do is spray the top one here. And the bottom one I spray with a little bit of water. The ones in the middle are nicely protected, so they’re just going to steam. I’m going to place them in some heavy duty aluminum foil. And I just gave this a quick spray with cooking spray so that nothing sticks. All right, we have all of our components. do the grilling. So, I’m going to head outside. All right. As I mentioned earlier, halumi is unique as a cheese because it doesn’t melt. Here’s why. Cheese is essentially made up of fat and water held together by a web of quin protein. The protein strands are connected with calcium. So, when cheese gets hot, that protein web relaxes and stretches, allowing the cheese to soften, melt, and flow. Now, typically, the cheese making process is quite acidic, which causes a lot of that calcium to dissolve away. Halumi is unusual because it’s made in a less acidic environment than most cheeses. And as a result, it contains more calcium. When halumi gets hot, the protein web stretches and relaxes, but only slightly, because the calcium keeps the protein network more tightly knit, so it softens, but it won’t flow. And that’s why halumi is a cheese that you can and should throw on the grill. Okay, it is time to grill some cheese. I’ve had my grill here preheating for about 15 minutes on high. Oo, it’s hot. It is nice and hot. So, what I’m going to do is turn off all but one burner. Okay, be my primary burner. And now I have a nice cool side to work with as well. Dig it. Next step is to clean it up. So, use a nice grill brush. And then we’re going to use some paper towels and a little bit of oil just to season it up a bit. Mhm. It’s going to help with sticking. All right. So, we’re going to start with our cheese here. And you’re seeing that I’m not adding any oil to it. Obviously, we just oiled the grill, which is great, but the cheese is going to render plenty of fat. There’s no issues with sticking on it. So, we have our lovely red bell pepper here. We’re going to go down skin side up so that flesh takes on nice flavor. Nice. Awesome. And then finally, we have our pas. Remember, we moistened the outside one so there’s some moisture in there to cause steam. That’s going to warm them up nicely. And then they’re just going to go on the cool side over here. Great. I’ll flip them every now and then, but for about 5 minutes, and they’ll be nice and warm. I’m going to close the lid here. Ah, that’s my next question. Open or closed? Closed is really good for gas grills. Um, it helps maintain the heat in there a lot. So, we’re going to go three to five minutes on this side. We’ll take a look and then we’ll flip them over. Sounds good. All right. You can smell that cheese, right? Yes. It smells delicious. All right. So, I’m going to flip it. Oh, that is beautiful. Goodness. Okay. I’m going to give those just a couple more minutes. While I’m in here, I’m going to flip over our nice pas. Okay. And take a look at the pepper. They’re starting to pick up some nice color on that first side. Oh, I can smell those, too. All right. So, I’m going to grab our pas off now. All right. They’re nice and warmed up. And it’s going to be another 3 to 5 minutes for our cheese and pepper to be beautiful. Great. Let’s take a look. All right. So, I’m going to get our peppers off. They’ve turned nice and soft with some beautiful spots of char. And I love it with the sweetness. Grilled and red peppers. It just goes perfectly together. All right. Let’s grab our beautiful cheese here. Oh, look at those pillows. Beautiful. Gorgeous. Well done. Thank you. I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to go inside and turn these into wraps. Yes, please. Let’s do it. Look at that grilled talumi. M and our bell pepper. Start with this. I’m going to cut it into half inch pieces so they fit really nicely in our wrap. Transfer this over to a bowl. And we’re going to season up with a tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil, 1/4 teaspoon of red pepper flakes, tiny bit of heat there, a little kick, and 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Okay, it is time to assemble. So, we’re going to take out a couple of our warmed pas. Oh, they smell perfect. And they’re nice and pliable, too. Yeah. Oh, that smells good. That’s a really important part of it. So, we’re going to do a little bit of our beautiful garlicky yogurt. And so, I’m going to take this out almost almost all the way to the edge. Beautiful. Now for our halumi. We’ll do a couple nice pieces. All right. So the next step, we’re going to put some of our beautiful pepper mixture on top. Oh man, look at these. Oh, look how they welted. The salt really drew out some of that onion moisture. And then just a little bit of arugula. This adds some nice pepperiness. All right. So I’m going to get a little of that onion juice. Oh wow. You can see that it’s just packed with that sumac too. That is a pretty sandwich. Isn’t that nice looking? Okay, so now it’s time to wrap. So I’m going to bring this side up and then pull back a little bit. And then just keep rolling over. And then what I’m going to do is roll the sides in first. Go over and then make a nice tight little package. Gorgeous. Damn, these look amazing. Just a little squeeze and you see how juicy it all is. That’s always a good sign. M. That is delicious. So good. You taste the creaminess and that slight goat flavor of the halumi, but then you have the sumac and you have the arugula and you have the little garlic from the yogurt and the whole thing together tastes great. You know, we talk about homie being meaty tasting, and it really is like if you’re if you have to have protein in a sandwich, this will absolutely satisfy. It’s got such a good meatiness to it. Dan, this is terrific. Thank you. You’re welcome. If you want to make this killer grilled halumi sandwich, start by marinating red onions with vinegar and some ground sumac and grill the peppers and halumi over a hot fire until nicely browned. From America’s Test Kitchen, a spectacular recipe for grilled halumi wraps. You can find this recipe and all the recipes from this season along with our product reviews and select episodes at our website americaasestkitchen.com/tv. This might go into regular rotation at my house. It’s so easy. If you’re ready to take your cooking to the next level, head over to americasestkitchen.com and get a free trial of our ATK essential membership. While you’re there, you can sign up for our free email newsletters and download our app. So, what are you waiting for?