Moussaka

Ingredients

• Layers
• Eggplant2
• Potatoes2
• Olive oil · for roasting4 tbsp
• Meat sauce
• Ground beef · or lamb500 g
• Onion · chopped1
• Minced garlic3 cloves
• Tomatoes · canned or fresh400 g
• Tomato paste2 tbsp
• Red wine · optional0.5 cup
• Cinnamon0.5 tsp
• Allspice · optional0.25 tsp
• Salt & pepper · to taste
• Bechamel
• Butter4 tbsp
• Flour4 tbsp
• Milk3 cups
• Egg yolks2
• Nutmeg · a pinch
• Parmigiano · grated0.5 cup

Steps

1. Slice the eggplant and potato 1cm thick; salt the eggplant, rest 10 minutes, and pat dry. Brush with olive oil and roast at 200C or pan-fry until golden.

   ⏲ 20 min

2. Meat sauce: fry the onion and garlic in olive oil, then add the ground meat and brown it.

   ⏲ 5 min

3. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, red wine, cinnamon, and allspice and simmer until thick and nearly dry.

   ⏲ 15 min

4. Bechamel: cook the flour in the butter, whisk in the milk until thick, then off the heat stir in the yolks, cheese, and nutmeg.

   ⏲ 7 min

5. Layer potato, then eggplant, then meat sauce in a baking dish, and pour the bechamel evenly over the top.

   ⏲ 5 min

6. Sprinkle with cheese and bake at 180C for 40-45 minutes, until the top is golden.

   ⏲ 45 min

7. Rest 15 minutes before cutting so the layers hold. Serve with Greek salad.

   ⏲ 15 min

Tips & Variations

The basics behind this dish

• Dry Heat and Moist Heat: Choosing the MethodRoasting and simmering are not hotter and cooler versions of one thing — they are different families. One builds aroma, the other builds tenderness, and most good cooking uses them in sequence.
• What Your Oven Is Actually DoingThe dial and the air rarely agree. Why preheating takes twenty minutes rather than five, why convection means lowering the number, and what an air fryer actually is.
• Browning and the Maillard ReactionMeat fails to brown for one of three reasons: it is wet, the pan is cool, or you put too much in at once. Plus how the brown film stuck to the pan becomes your sauce.