Recipe: Lamb Moussaka

This dish is certainly one that makes you go nom! A perfect dish to cook up for the family, or a warming dish for a cosy Sunday evening and then leftovers for the following few days. There is a bit of an art to making a moussaka; similarly to lasagne,  some patience is required when making the meat sauce. It is so well worth it though, it is seriously one of the best things I have made all year.

Collect

For the meat sauce

  • 750 g lamb mince
  • 2 red onions
  • 2 garlic
  • 1 tin chopped tomatoes
  • 2 T puree
  • 1 t sugar
  • 1 glass red wine
  • salt and pepper
  • 1 bay leaf
  • cinnamon stick
  • 1/4 c olive oil

For the bechamel sauce

  • 3 – 5 c milk
  • 120 g butter
  • 120 g flour
  • nutmeg
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 100 g parmesan

Vegetables

  • 2 eggplants
  • salt
  • olive oil

Create

  1. Begin by slicing the eggplants approximately 1 cm thick. It is optional whether you peel the eggplants first; I always would because I find the skin to be quite tough and chewy.
  2. Season the eggplants with salt and leave to sit for approximately 10 minutes. The purpose of this is to dry them out.
  3. Rinse off the salt and squeeze out any excess water.
  4. Drizzle with oil to fry/bake.

For the meat sauce

  1. In a pan, add oil, onion, garlic, tomato puree and mince. Pour in the red wine and wait for it to evaporate. Add the tinned tomatoes, sugar, cinnamon, 1 bay leaf and salt and pepper.
  2. Bring to a boil before reducing, covering and simmering for at least 30 minutes.

For the bechamel sauce

  1. On a low heat, melt the butter and then add the flour.
  2. Whisk until it forms a paste.
  3. Add the milk in a steady stream, continuing to whisk.
  4. When almost ready, add the egg yolks, salt and pepper, nutmeg and cheese.
  5. Whisk fast so that it doesn’t form an omelette.

To assemble

  1. Grease a baking dish.
  2. Layer the eggplants across the bottom.
  3. Pour in meat, and follow with a second layer of eggplants.
  4. Top with bechamel.
  5. Sprinkle with cheese.
  6. Bake for 60 minutes at 180°C.

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