Moussaka
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Gloriously warming winter food. Layers of aubergines and tomatoey meat topped with a savoury custard.
This is a Greek national and regional dish.
This recipe is for 4 generous to 6 normal portions.
Ingredients
Method
Preparation
Top and tail the courgettes and aubergines and slice into 1 cm thick slices.
Lay the courgettes and aubergine slices in a colander sprinking table salt on each layer. Allow to stand for at least 30 minutes to extract juices.
Skin the onions and garlic and chop fine.
Beat the eggs in a bowl and add the yoghurt, nutmeg and cheese, and mix well.
Cooking
Fry the onions and garlic in a little oil until browning at the edges.
Add the minced meat and stir fry until browned (about 5 minutes).
Mix in the flour and then add the tomatoes and adjust the seasoning to taste.
Simmer for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile.
Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 4 (180 °C; 350 °F), and warm your baking dish.
Dry the veggie slices with a kitchen towel.
Heat a little oil in a frying pan, and fry the veggies, in batches, until browning, turn and repeat. (2 minutes each side approx.).
Once the veg and meat are ready, lightly oil your baking dish (or use a le Creuset pan) and make alternate layers of veggies and tomatoey meat until all are used.
Pour on the egg and yoghurt mix.
Bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until the top is golden.
To serve
In summer, serve with a green salad.
In winter serve with a green vegetable such as broccoli.
Variations
Purists would use only aubergine (eggplant) for the vegetable layers.
Some of the purists would suggest roasting the slices in the oven rather than frying. This gives a dry smoky flavour, whereas fried aubergine takes a lot of oil and takes the flavour of the oil.
Other recipes include a layer of bellpeppers.
The meat layers can be made more interesting by using simple herbs and spices.
Vegetarian Moussaka is possible.