Greek Moussaka
Serves: 8
Total Time: 1 hour, 45 minutes (Prep = 45 minutes, Cook Time = 1 hour)
Calories: 545
Ingredients:
Base ingredients:
X eggplants (The number depends on the size! If you’re making this for 8, you will need enough sliced eggplant for 2 layers of a 9x11” baking dish. If you’re making it for 8, you need enough sliced eggplant for 2 layers of 9x9” baking dish.)
Kosher salt
1/4 cup olive oil (it’s really up to you how much you want to brush on the eggplant)
For the meat sauce:
1.5 lb ground beef or ground lamb
2 red onions, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
14 oz canned crushed tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp sugar
8 ounces red wine
Pinch of kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 bay leaf
A pinch of cinnamon or one cinnamon stick
1/4 of a cup olive oil
For the Bechamel sauce:
4 cups 2% milk, warmed in the microwave*
4 oz butter
4 oz flour
a pinch of nutmeg
2 egg yolks
1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
Kosher salt to taste
Directions:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Begin by preparing the eggplant. Remove the stalks from the eggplants, peel them, and cut them into round slices (not length-wise), 1 cm thick. Season with salt and place in a colander for about half an hour. This will sweat the bitter taste out and create crispier pieces. I recommend kosher salt here as it’s much better than table salt for this step.
Rinse the eggplant slices with plenty of water and squeeze with your hands, to get rid of the excessive water. Pat them dry, drizzle them with olive oil, and bake them on a baking sheet for 20 minutes. Set aside when done.
While the eggplant slices are sweating in the colander, begin preparing the meat sauce. Heat a large skillet/frying 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 ground meat, breaking it up with a wooden spoon.
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 continue cooking to evaporate most of the wine. Add the crushed tomatoes, the sugar, the cinnamon stick/pinch of cinnamon, 1 bay leaf and a good pinch of kosher salt and pepper. Bring to a 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.
While the meat sauce is simmering, prepare the bechamel sauce. Use a large pan to melt the butter over low-medium heat. Add the flour, whisking continuously to make a paste. Add the 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.
Remove the bechamel pan from the heat and stir in the egg yolks, kosher salt, pepper, a pinch of nutmeg and the grated cheese. Whisk quickly, in order to prevent the eggs from scrambling in the heat. Season with kosher salt to taste. Take one spoon full of bechamel and stir it in the meat sauce. Set the bechamel sauce aside.
Now its time to assemble the moussaka in a large 9x12 inch baking dish. Spray the bottom and sides of the pan with nonstick cooking spray and layer half of the eggplant slices on the bottom. Pour in all of the meat sauce and spread it out evenly. Add a second layer of eggplant slices, top with all of the béchamel sauce and smooth out with a spatula.
Bake for approximately 60 minutes or until its crust turns a light, golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes— this will prevent the bechamel sauce from pouring out when you’re cutting the pieces to serve.
*If you use a milk with higher fat content, be sure to adjust calories accordingly. Your bechamel will still be delicious with 2%.