Moussaka is to the Greek what Lasagna is to Italians. A rich tomato meat sauce layered with eggplant instead of pasta sheets, and topped with a thick layer of béchamel sauce, this traditional Greek recipe takes time to assemble – but it’s well worth the effort!
Eggplant for Moussaka
Traditionally, the eggplant slices are fried but there’s plenty of recipes (even from Greek cookbooks) that grill/broil, bake or BBQ the eggplant.
I’ve opted to bake here (like I do with Eggplant Parmigiana), but actually, the fastest and easiest way to cook the eggplant is on the BBQ. There’s a vast volume of eggplant here and it takes 3 trays. If you’ve got a 4 burner BBQ, you’ll get these thin slices of eggplant cooked within 5 minutes (and no salting required).
Why salt the eggplant? Two reasons: to extract excess liquid (otherwise you end up with watery moussaka), and historically also to remove any potential for bitterness (high heat of BBQ will avoid the need for this). These days however the latter is not really necessary, as any bitterness has been bred out of modern eggplants.
Also Read: Crispy Roast Duck Recipe
Moussaka (Greek Beef and Eggplant Lasagna)
Course: MainCuisine: GreekDifficulty: Medium4
servings40
minutes30
minutes899
kcalA traditional recipe for an iconic Greek dish from a wonderful cookbook called The Food And Cooking Of Greece by Sara Nassopoulos. Layers of soft eggplant, rich beef or lamb filling lightly spiced with oregano and cinnamon, topped with a thick layer of bechamel sauce.
Ingredients
- EGGPLANT
1 kg / 2 lb eggplant (aubergines) , 0.75cm / 0.3″ thick slices
1 tsp salt
2 – 3 tbsp olive oil
- FILLING
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion , diced (brown, white, yellow)
3 garlic cloves , minced
1.4 lb / 700 g ground beef or lamb (mince) (Note 1)
1/2 cup red wine , dry (optional)
14 oz /400g crushed tomatoes
3 tbsp tomato paste
1 cup beef broth/stock (Note 2)
1 beef bouillon cube , crumbled (or 1 tsp powder)
2 bay leaves
1.5 tsp sugar (any)
2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp cinnamon (or 1 stick, use whole)
3/4 tsp salt
- BECHAMEL SAUCE
4 tbsp (60g) butter
5 tbsp plain flour
2 1/2 cups milk (any fat %)
1/4 tsp nutmeg, freshly grated (optional)
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated (or Kefalotiri Cheese) (Note 3)
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 1/4 tsp Vegeta, vegetable or chicken stock powder (or salt) (Note 4)
1/4 tsp pepper
- TOPPING
1/3 cup panko breadcrumbs (Note 5)
Directions
- EGGPLANT
- Place eggplant slightly overlapping in a large colander. Sprinkle with some salt. Repeat with remaining eggplant.
- Leave to sweat for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, make Meat Sauce and Béchamel Sauce.
- Preheat oven to 240C/450F.
- Pat eggplant dry – make sure to do this well, otherwise it’s too salty. Lay on parchment paper lined trays (you might need 3 trays, work in batches), brush with oil.
- Bake 15 – 20 minutes or until lightly browned and softened . Remove and set aside to cool slightly.
- MEAT SAUCE
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet or pot over high heat, then cook the garlic and onion for 2 minutes.
- Add the beef or lamb and cook until it changes from pink to brown, breaking it up as you go.
- Add wine, cook for 1.5 minutes or until alcohol smell is gone.
- Add remaining ingredients and stir to combine. Bring to a simmer, then lower heat to medium low and cook for 15 minutes, or until reduced to a thick sauce.
- BECHAMEL SAUCE
- Melt butter in a pan over medium heat. Add flour and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly.
- Stirring constantly, slowly add the milk. Then stir regularly for 3 to 5 minutes or until it thickens so that it thickly coats the back of a wooden spoon (see video / step photos).
- Remove from the stove and whisk in cheese, nutmeg, Vegeta/stock powder (or salt) and pepper.
- Allow to cool for 5 minutes, then whisk the eggs in. Cover with lid until required.
- ASSEMBLE
- Lower oven to 180C/350F (all oven types).
- Place half the eggplant in the bottom of a baking dish (I used my 26cm/9″ Lodge skillet), then top with all the Filling.
- Top with remaining eggplant, then pour over the Béchamel Sauce, sprinkle with breadcrumbs.
- Bake for 30 – 40 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to stand for 10 minutes before serving.
Notes
- Meat – lamb is traditional, beef is equally delicious!
- Cheese – Traditionally this is made with grated Kefalotiri Cheese which is actually sold in some large supermarkets in Australia nowadays. But I’ve been making this with parmesan for years.
- Stock powder – I like using Vegeta or chicken or vegetable stock powder to flavour the white sauce because it adds more flavour than plain salt and there’s a LOT of sauce! But plain salt will do just fine too. (I would probably add a bit more cheese!)
- Panko – Panko is totally not Greek, it’s Japanese breadcrumbs. But I practically always use panko instead of normal breadcrumbs because the pieces are bigger so you get way better CRUNCH! Normal breadcrumbs totally ok.