Moussaka

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With its layers of eggplant, potatoes, saucy beef ragu, and a creamy bechamel topping, Greek Moussaka is the ultimate comfort food!

Prep Time45

Cook Time1 30

Total Time2 15

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Greek

Servings:

Preheat oven to 425°F.
Salt the eggplant sliced and place into a collander. Place a plate over the top of and weigh it down with a few cans of tomatoes. Let the eggplant release its liquid for at least 30 minutes. Rinse the eggplant to remove the excess salt and dry thoroughly with paper towels. Place the eggplant pieces on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and brush or spray with olive oil. Season with salt, pepper, and oregano. Roast for 30-35 minutes or until golden, flipping the pieces a few times to achieve even cooking and adding more oil if required.
Place the potatoes onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet and drizzle with the remaining olive oil. Season with salt, pepper, and oregano. Roast for 30 minutes.

Heat a large pan or pot to medium heat with the olive oil and add the beef. Cook until brown while breaking it up with a spoon. Make some room in the pot and add the onions. Season the meat and the onions with a bit of salt. Once the onions begin to soften, add the garlic and cook until fragrant.
Add the tomato paste and cook for another 5 minutes. Add a splash of water if the paste starts to burn.
Add the red wine and turn the heat to high while scraping with a wooden spoon to dislodge the brown bits. Once the wine evaporates add the plum tomatoes, oregano, dill, honey, bay leaves, cloves, and cinnamon and bring to a lively simmer. Let the sauce cook until it thickens into a thick meat sauce. Season with salt and pepper to taste then keep on low heat while moving onto the bechamel sauce.

In a large sauce pot melt the butter over low heat. Add the flour and whisk to combine. Pour the warm milk in a slow stream into the pot and whisk to combine and prevent lumps. Turn the heat up and bring to a simmer.
If the bechamel is not thick and coating the back of a wooden spoon, turn the heat up a bit more. Once thickened, remove the pot from the heat.
Whisk the eggs in a bowl and add 2 tablespoons at a time of the bechamel to temper the eggs. Once the eggs have been warmed up, pour it back into the pot with the bechamel and stir to combine. Add the nutmeg and parmesan cheese. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Turn the oven to 350°F and set the rack to the middle level.
Grease a 9x13" baking dish. Spread the potatoes out in the dish in an even layer. Layer half of the eggplant and sprinkle with half of the parmesan cheese.
Remove the bay leaves from the sauce then pour the sauce on top of the eggplant. Layer the remaining eggplant on top of the sauce then top with the bechamel. Spread the bechamel out in an even layer then top with remaining parmesan cheese.
Bake for 1 hour. Wait at least 30 minutes but preferably 1 hour before cutting into the moussaka so that the slices hold together.

Salting the eggplant. Salting the eggplant will remove some of the excess water in the eggplant. Make sure to rinse the eggplant of the salt and dry thoroughly before frying or roasting.
Fry or bake. Traditionally the eggplant discs are fried but roasting in the oven is easier and less messy.
Type of beef. Most of my recipes use ground chuck but because of the amount of oil used for the eggplant and the richness of the bechamel, ground sirloin (90/10) beef is recommended instead.
Lamb. Ground lamb can be used or a mix of 50/50 lamb and beef.
Leftovers. Moussaka can be refrigerated for up to 3 days and can be reheated in the oven or microwave.

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