Recipe – Traditional Greek Moussaka

 

 

Moussaka is a baked, Eastern Mediterranean dish, which originated in Turkey and the Middle East.

It consists of layers of potato, aubergines (eggplant) and a tomato-based minced-meat sauce, all topped off with creamy béchamel sauce.

The Greek version of moussaka was created in the 1920s by Nikólaos Tselementés, a Greek chef and cookbook author, who is considered one of the most influential cookery writers of modern Greece.

 

 

 Moussaka is rather time-consuming  to prepare, nevertheless, it is definitely worth the effort.

 To make things easier when preparing moussaka it’s a good idea to have bought all ingredients the day before, that way, if it is to be eaten for lunch, you can crack on with it first thing in the morning.

 Another thing you can do is prepare the meat sauce the night before and store in the fridge.

The ingredients here are for a large oven tray, 40 x 45 cm.

 

 

I use this large roasting dish as moussaka is my son Johnny’s absolutely favourite dish ever, he could eat this quantity all by himself!

 

 

This is also a good size if you want to eat half the moussaka and freeze the other half to eat on another day.

A good idea as it is so time-consuming to prepare!

You can freeze moussaka for up to 3 to 4 months in an airtight container; cool the moussaka completely, then place it in a freezer-safe container.

 You can also freeze individual portions by wrapping them in either foil or grease-proof paper before placing them in a freezer-safe container.

If you want to use the more common sized 30 x 35 cm roasting dish, just half the ingredients.

 

 Ingredients

 

5-6 large aubergines, cut into 1cm – ½ inch slices

 1 kilo potatoes, peeled and boiled whole for 10 minutes

 Vegetable oil for frying aubergines

 

Meat sauce

 

 1 Kilo beef or lamb mince

 1 Onion finely chopped

 2 Garlic cloves, crushed

 1 Bay leaf

 1 Cinnamon stick

10 cloves – whole

 1 Carton concentrated tomato juice 500gr

  Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper (to your taste)

 1/4 Cup Olive oil (50 – 60 ml)

 

 Ingredients for béchamel sauce

 

 

200 gr butter

1.5 cups plain flour (400gr)

1.5 litres milk

2 beaten eggs

100 gr grated hard cheese

1 Nutmeg – whole-grated grated.

(Whole nutmeg, freshly grated, has much, much more flavour than powdered nutmeg)

 

Method

 

1. Prepare the aubergines and potatoes

 

 Thinly slice the aubergines lengthwise.

Sprinkle with salt and leave for about thirty minutes, you will see them start to “Sweat”.

 

 

 This helps remove the bitterness from the aubergines.

 

 Boil peeled potatoes, whole, for ten minutes, drain and leave to cool.

When cool, cut into thin slices

 

2. Prepare the meat sauce.

 

 

Heat the olive oil, in a large pan, saute the chopped onion and garlic for 5 minutes and add the minced beef, saute for another ten minutes.

 Add the tomato puree, along with a couple of cups of boiling water, stir well.

Pop in the bay leaf, the cinnamon stick, and throw in a few cloves, 10 or so.

(Grated cinnamon and cloves, can be used, but, you will get only half the flavour)

Season with salt & pepper.

 Simmer the sauce for twenty to thirty minutes, stirring occasionally and adding hot water if necessary.

 

3. Fry aubergines

 

 

While the meat sauce is cooking, rinse the aubergines well under running water, drain, and pat dry with kitchen roll.

In a large frying pan, fry the aubergine slices until softened and golden brown, (about five minutes or so), turn slices so they brown on both sides.

 You may have to do this in two or three batches.

 Drain fried aubergine slices on kitchen roll.

 

4. Prepare béchamel sauce

 

People are nervous about making béchamel sauce, worrying that it will become lumpy.

 Using this method, I have never had that problem.

 Melt about 200 gr of butter, remove the pan from the heat, this is important, then, slowly add flour, stirring well, until the mixture forms a ball, and falls away from the sides of the pan, without sticking.

 

 

You may not need the whole 400 gr of flour, or, you may need more, just add enough to make the mixture form a ball, see above picture.

I have found the easiest way to add the eggs, is to lightly whisk them into the milk, before adding the milk to flour and butter mixture.

The Greek way is to add them at the end but this takes a lot of elbow grease to mix them in well, do it my easy way, the results are the same.

  Gradually add the milk and egg mixture, first slowly, mixing well with a spoon, then as the mixture becomes more liquid, whisk well with a balloon whisk.

 If you do spot lumps beginning to form whisk as fast as you can for a minute!

 Add the grated nutmeg (a whole nutmeg) and season to your taste with salt and pepper, if the cheese you have is salty, go easy on the salt.

Return the pan to the heat and bring to the boil, whisking all the time, once at boiling point remove from heat and stir in the grated cheese.

 

5. Assemble moussaka

 

 

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C

Thickly slice the par boiled potatoes and cover the base of a large baking tin or, oven proof dish with all of them, we only use potatoes on the base.

 Now pour half the meat sauce (Don’t forget to discard the cinnamon stick and bay leaf) over the potatoes

 Layer half the fried aubergines over the meat sauce.

 Pour over the rest of the meat sauce and layer over that the rest of the fried aubergines.

 Pour the béchamel sauce over the top of everything, smoothing it out with the back of a spoon.

 Place in the oven for about thirty minutes, or until béchamel sauce is golden brown on top.

 Remove from oven, leave to cool for fifteen minutes or so, slice into squares and enjoy!

 

Papoutsakia – Little Shoes

A  close relation to Moussaka!

 

Now you’ve mastered the art of Greek moussaka, why not have a go at Johhny’s other absolutely favourite Greek dish,  Papoutsakia, “little shoes”, Greek-style stuffed aubergines!

 

 

Related Posts:

Recipe for Papoutsakia – Greek Stuffed Eggplant

Recipe for Pastitsio – The Greek Lasagna!