Moussaka is to the Greeks what Lasagna is to Italians. Greek Moussaka is without a doubt, Greece’s most popular, traditional dish! So what is Moussaka? Moussaka is a traditional Greek eggplant casserole made with baked or pan fried eggplants and potatoes, a rich, tomatoey lamb mince sauce and topped off with a deliciously creamy bechamel sauce. In other words, the ultimate comfort food””.
Ingredients
Base ingredients
6 eggplants
5 potatoes
vegetable oil (for frying the eggplants)
For Meat Sauce
750 g beef or lamb mince (26 oz)
2 red onions (chopped)
2 cloves of garlic (chopped)
1 tin chopped tomatoes (400 g)
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 teaspoon sugar
1 glass of Pfeiffer Tempranillo
Pinch of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 bay leaf
3–4 whole cloves (optional)
A pinch of cinnamon or one cinnamon stick
1/4 of a cup olive oil
For Bechamel Sauce
900ml milk
120 g butter
120 g flour
a pinch of nutmeg
2 egg yolks
100 g Parmigiano or your favourite hard cheese
salt to taste
Method
Remove the stalks from the eggplants and cut them into slices, 1 cm thick. Season with salt and place in a colander for about half an hour.
Rinse the eggplants with plenty of water and squeeze with your hands, to get rid of the excessive water. Pat them dry and fry in plenty of oil, until nicely coloured. Place the fried eggplants on some paper, in order to absorb the oil. (For a lighter version of the traditional moussaka try drizzling the eggplants with some olive oil and bake them for 20 minutes instead of frying them). Set aside when done.
Don’t forget your eggplants will shrink when baked, so make sure you slice enough to give you around 3 layers of coverage. When baked, they will shrink down to just the right amount for 2 luscious layers!
Now its time to slice potatoes into 0.5cm, half a finger width slices. Fry them or bake them in the same way as the eggplants. Season with some salt and set them aside when done.
You can bake the potatoes in the same baking tray that you’ll use to bake your Moussaka in. Not only will you slice and layer the exact number of potatoes, but you’ll also end up with less washing up to do!
Prepare the meat sauce for the moussaka. Heat a large pan to medium-high heat and add the olive oil. Stir in the chopped onions and sauté, until softened and slightly colored. Stir in the mince breaking it up with a wooden spoon and sauté. When it starts to brown, add the the garlic and tomato paste and sauté until the garlic starts to soften. Pour in the red wine to deglaze the meat juices and wait to evaporate. Add the tinned tomatoes, the sugar, a pinch of cinnamon, 1 bay leaf, the cloves and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Bring to the boil then turn the heat down and simmer with the lid on for about 30 minutes or until most of the juices have evaporated. Set aside when done.
Prepare the béchamel sauce for the moussaka. Use a large pan to melt the butter over low-medium heat. Add the flour whisking continuously to make a paste. Add warmed milk in a steady stream; keep whisking in order to prevent your sauce from getting lumpy. If the sauce still needs to thicken, boil over low heat while continuing to stir. Its consistency should resemble a thick cream.
You’ll need to be constantly whisking while you’re adding the milk. Cooking your béchamel sauce while whisking over a low heat will prevent it from burning and sticking to the bottom of your pan.
Remove the béchamel pan from the stove and stir in the egg yolks, salt, pepper, a pinch of nutmeg and the most of the grated cheese. Reserve some cheese to sprinkle on top! Whisk quickly, in order to prevent the eggs from turning an omelette! Season with salt to taste. Take one spoon full of béchamel and stir it in the meat sauce. Set the béchamel sauce aside.
Now it’s time to assemble the moussaka. For this moussaka recipe you will need a large baking dish, approx. 20cm x 30cm x 8cm. Butter the bottom and sides of the pan and layer the potatoes first, then half the eggplants. Pour in all of the meat sauce and spread it out evenly. Don’t forget to remove the cloves and the bay leaf!. Add a second layer of eggplants, top with all of the béchamel sauce and smooth out with a spatula.
Sprinkle with the remaining grated cheese. Preheat you oven at 180C and bake your moussaka for about 60 minutes or until its crust turns light golden brown. Even though it will be really hard to do so, you should wait for the moussaka to cool down and be just warm to the touch before cutting into pieces. This will prevent the béchamel sauce from pouring out when you’re cutting your pieces.
Enjoy with a glass of Pfeiffer Tempranillo.
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