One of my long time favorite comfort meals is moussaka. I just love the warm spices of nutmeg and cinnamon in a meat sauce filling topped off with a flavor-filled bechamel.

As always, thank you for Spending Time in My Kitchen!

Moussaka

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Recipe by David Frank – Spending Time In My Kitchen

Servings

servings

Prep time

minutes

Cooking time

hours

Traditional Greek dish with layers of eggplant, tomato based meat sauce, topped with a bechamel!

Ingredients

Eggplant
3 good sized eggplants cut into 1/4 inch slices
Salt
Drizzle of olive oil
Filling
1 Tbl of olive oil
1 large yellow onion, diced
1.5 lbs of 80 /20 ground beef
28 oz can of crushed tomatoes
2 Tbl tomato paste
Cup red wine
16 oz beef stock
2 Tbl of chopped garlic
2 cups of parsley
Tbl of dried oregano
3 bay leaves
Tbl sugar
4 tsp cinnamon
4 tsp nutmeg
Salt and pepper to taste
Bechamel
5 Tbl butter
5 Tbl flour
4 cups of hot milk
Tbl nutmeg
1/2 Cup of parmesan cheese
Tbl white pepper
Tbl salt
3 eggs
Assembly / Garnish
Panko bread crumbs
Fresh oregano

Directions

Eggplant
Preheat oven to 350°
Layer your eggplant on a cooling rack over a baking sheet.
Sprinkle salt on your eggplant on both sides and let it sit for 30 minutes to draw moisture out to keep your dish from getting watery.
Brush eggplant with a little olive oil and roast in oven for about 20 minutes.
Filling
Heat olive oil in a large braiser / dutch oven / skillet
Cook onions until translucent; add garlic (do not overcook)
Add meat and saute until meat is broken down and still a little pink in color. (Add a little salt and pepper to meat while cooking)
Add wine and cook for 2 minutes
Add tomatoes, beef stock, tomato paste and stir well
Add rest of ingredients, stir and let sauce slowly simmer for 1 hour until reduced. If sauce gets too thick, just add a little beef broth till filling is at a good consistency to layer
Bechamel
In a large sauce pan, melt butter over medium heat
Slowly add flour, stirring constantly for 2 minutes. Do not brown the flour-butter mixture.
Slowly pour in hot milk and whisk to combine. Continue to whisk until bechamel thickens and will coat the back of a wooden spoon.
Stir in salt, pepper and cheese
Take sauce off heat
In a separate mixing bowl, whisk eggs.
Once eggs are well whisked, pour slowly and whisk rapidly into bechamel.
Assembly
Sprinkle some panko bread crumbs on bottom of 9 x 13 baking dish
Layer 1/2 of eggplant on bottom of dish
Next, layer meat sauce filling. Sprinkle cheese and panko crumbs on top of filling
Layer the rest of eggplant
Top layer is the bechamel. On top of bechamel, sprinkle more bread crumbs, cheese.
Bake for approximately 45 minutes or until nicely browned on top
Remove from oven, top with fresh oregano and let stand for 15 minutes
Slice into individual servings. If you have excess sauce, you can layer bottom of individual serving dishes with sauce and then place serving of moussaka on top of that.
Enjoy!