Description:
The finest traditional Greek Moussaka recipe brought to you by My Greek Dish. Lovely layers of juicy beef, eggplants, and béchamel sauce baked to absolute perfection!
Watch Greek celebrity chef, Akis Petretzikis, make Moussaka with the most viewed famous Moussaka recipe on Youtube. Akis recipe is a healthier Moussaka recipe that does not fry the vegetables and instead bakes them!
Ingredients:
- 6 eggplants
- 5 potatoes (optional)
- vegetable oil or olive oil (for frying the eggplants)
For the meat sauce:
- 750g beef mince (26 oz)
- 2 red onions (chopped)
- 2 cloves of garlic (chopped)
- 1 tin chopped tomatoes (400g / 14oz)
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 glass of red wine
- A pinch of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 bay leaf
- A pinch of cinnamon or one cinnamon stick
- 1/4 of a cup olive oil
For the bechamel sauce:
- 900ml milk (31 fl.oz)
- 120g butter (4 oz)
- 120g flour (4 oz)
- a pinch of nutmeg
- 2 egg yolks
- 100g Parmigiano-Reggiano or Kefalotyri or your favourite hard cheese (3.5oz)
- salt
Instructions:
- Begin by preparing the eggplants. Remove the stalks from the eggplants and cut them into slices, 1 cm thick. Season with salt and place in a colander for about half an hour.
- To remove extra water, thoroughly rinse the eggplants and squeeze them with your hands. Dry them off, then cook them in plenty of oil until they are golden. Place the on paper towel to absorb the oil. (Instead of frying the aubergines, try sprinkling them with some olive oil and baking them for 20 minutes for a lighter version of the traditional Greek moussaka.) Set them aside when done.
- If you would like to add potatoes to your moussaka, slice them into 0.5cm, half a finger width slices. Fry or bake them in the same way as the eggplants. Season with some salt and set them aside when done.
- To prepare the moussaka’s meat sauce, olive oil is added to a big pan that has been heated to medium-high heat. Add the chopped onions and stir until the onions are tender and beginning to brown. With a wooden spoon, break up the mince as you stir it in and sauté. Add the tomato paste and garlic when it begins to brown, and cook until the garlic begins to soften. To deglaze the meat juices, pour in the red wine and wait for it to evaporate. Add your canned tomatoes, sugar, a pinch of cinnamon, a bay leaf, and a generous amount of salt and pepper.
- To prepare the moussaka’s béchamel sauce, melt the butter over low to medium heat in a large pan. Making a paste while continuously whisking in the flour. Warm the milk, then add it in a steady stream while whisking to avoid lumps in your sauce. If the sauce still needs to thicken, boil it while stirring continuously over low heat. It should have the consistency of thick cream.
- Remove the béchamel pan from the stove and stir in the egg yolks, salt, pepper, a pinch of nutmeg and the most of the grated cheese. Reserve some cheese to sprinkle on top! Whisk quickly, in order to prevent the eggs from turning an omelette! Season with salt to taste. Take one spoon full of béchamel and stir it in the meat sauce. Set the béchamel sauce aside.
- Now it’s time to create the moussaka. You will need a large baking dish, approx. 20x30cm / 8x12inch and 8cm/3 inch deep). Butter the bottom and sides of the pan and layer the potatoes first (if you’re using them), then half the eggplants. Pour in all of the meat sauce and spread it out evenly. Add a second layer of eggplants, top with all of the béchamel sauce and smooth out with a spatula.
- Sprinkle the grated cheese that has remained. Preheat oven to 180C/350F and bake the moussaka for about 60 minutes, until the crust turns a light golden brown. Wait until the moussaka has cooled and is only slightly warm to the touch before slicing it. By doing this, you’ll prevent the béchamel sauce from spilling out when you cut your pieces.
- You may serve the Moussaka with a Horiatiki Greek Village Salad (no lettuce) on the side along with a glass of Greek red wine!
This traditional Greek Moussaka recipe has been brought to you by My Greek Dish.
