Moussaka Recipe

Are you looking for a Greek Moussaka Recipe?  You can use lamb or ground beef for this recipe, whichever you are able to find on sale.

Ingredients:
1 large eggplant trimmed and cut in thick slices
2 large potatoes, peeled, sliced thick and precooked to a nearly done state
Olive oil (EVOO)
2 medium onions, sliced
1 lb ground lamb (substitute beef if you must)
1 large can diced tomatoes (28 oz)
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon dried oregano
4 oz dry red wine
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Bechamel  (Mornay?) Sauce with Parmesan:
3 oz butter
4 level tablespoons flour
1 pint milk warmed
Ground nutmeg
2 eggs, beaten
2 oz grated Parmesan

1. Baste the eggplant slices with olive oil and partially cook, turning once, on a hot gas grill. Alternatively, bake in very hot oven, turning once, or on stove with fry pan. Browning on grill leaves attractive grill marks and is the least messy.
2. In a large saute pan, lace bottom with EVOO and add onions over medium to medium high heat. Soften onions and add ground meat, allowing to brown and using spoon to breakup. Add tomatoes, cinnamon, oregano, wine, salt and pepper. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered for 20-30 minutes until liquid is thick and mostly gone.
3. For the sauce, melt butter over low heat. Using a whisk, add flour to melted butter stirring continuously to make a paste. Gradually add warm milk whisking continuously  and let thicken, but not boil, over low to medium heat. Remove from heat. Whisk in beaten eggs and nutmeg. Return to heat and stir until thick, remove from heat again and stir in Parmesan.
4. Build the moussaka by layering in ½  the eggplant, ½ the potatoes, and all the meat sauce in a 9×13 or larger baking dish. Cover the meat sauce with remaining eggplant and potatoes. Cover this with the white sauce, evenly spread out. Bake at 350 deg for 45-55 minutes until top is golden brown.

I like to serve this hot with a contrastingly cool salad such as cucumbers and sweet onion, very thinly sliced, in a dressing of equal parts (tablespoon or 2 each per cucumber) of vegetable oil (not olive) and red wine vinegar plus sugar, oregano, cracked pepper and salt (chilled for several hours before serving).

Many thanks to my Step-Dad for this recipe!