Moussaka is a great way to use up a lot of different veggies from the garden. It is so delicious that you wont even notice your eating eggplant. Moussaka is basically a vegetable lasgane that uses veggies for the layers instead of pasta.
Watch the video version of this recipe here:
Ingredients
3 large eggplants, thinly sliced lengthwise
6-8 Yukon Gold potatoes, thinly sliced
Lots of shredded Mozzarella cheese
Olive Oil
Big bowl of room temperature water with salt
Meat Sauce
2 lb ground beef
2 large onions, diced
1 sweet bell pepper, diced
3 TBS garlic cloves, minced
2 cups fresh tomatoes, diced
3 TBS tomato paste
1/3 cup of red wine
3 cups of beef broth
1 TSP Allspice
1 TSP salt
1/2 TSP ground black pepper
1/2 TSP cinnamon
Bechamel sauce
1 stick of butter melted
1/2 cup flour
3 cups of milk
2 egg yolks
1 TSP salt
1/2 TSP pepper
1/2 TSP nutmeg
1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese
Baking sheets covered with aluminum foil.
Directions
1. Wash the eggplant and potatoes. Thinly slice lengthwise. Soak the eggplant for at least 30 minutes, up to 2 hours, in a big bowl of salted water to remove the bitterness. Once it is done soaking, lay out the eggplant slices in one layer over some paper towels to dry.
2. Wash and peel the potatoes. Then slice 1/4 inch thick lengthwise. Mix the potato slices with salt, pepper, and olive oil.
3. Prep the rest of the ingredients. Dice the tomatoes, onions, and peppers. I like to use a food chopper to get consistent sized pieces.
4. Turn the oven on to 375F.
5. Brush each side of the eggplant with olive oil. Then season with salt and pepper. Lay all the sliced eggplant and potatoes in one layer, on several baking sheets covered with aluminum foil. Roast the eggplant and potato slices for 1 hour.
6. Next, start making the meat sauce. Add 2 TBS of olive oil to a pan and cook the ground beef until brown. Then add minced garlic, and diced onions, peppers, and tomatoes. Cook this down until all the liquid has evaporated. Then add the 1/3 cup of red wine to deglaze. Then add 3TBS tomato paste. Mix to incorporate the paste. Next add all of the seasonings. Finally, add some beef broth to get to a thick bolognese type of consistency. Taste test the meat sauce at the end and adjust with more seasonings to your liking. Remove the meat sauce from the heat and set aside.
7. Next, make the béchamel. Melt 1 stick of butter. Add the salt, pepper, and nutmeg followed by the flour. Whisk this quickly to form a roux. Then pour 2 cups of milk into the béchamel mixture. Mix 2 egg yolks with the remaining 1 cup of milk, then slowly pour into the béchamel sauce in the pot, all while whisking quickly. Taste test the béchamel sauce and the end and add seasonings to adjust to your liking. Lastly, whisk in 1 cup of mozzarella cheese until melted. Remove the béchamel sauce from the heat and set aside.
8. Now start assembling the moussaka, Start with 1 layer of potatoes, followed by some mozzarella cheese, followed by an layer of sliced eggplant. Repeat until all the sliced potato and eggplant have been used up. Top with a layer of meat sauce, followed by béchamel sauce. Sprinkle more cheese on top.
9. Bake the dish of moussaka at 450F until the top layer of cheese is melted and golden. Let the dish cool down for at least 30 minutes before slicing into it.
