NATIONAL DISH OF GREECE

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Hello ladies and gents this is the Viking telling you that today we are talking about

Traditional Greek Moussaka recipe (Moussaka with Béchamel)

Moussaka -- National Dish of Greece


Description

The very best traditional Greek Moussaka recipe. Imagine layers of juicy beef mince, sweet eggplants, and creamy béchamel sauce baked to perfection!

Base ingredients

  • 6 eggplants
  • 5 potatoes (optional)
  • vegetable oil (for frying the eggplants)
  • For the meat sauce
  • 750g beef or lamb 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
  • 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 to taste


Instructions

  1. To prepare this Greek moussaka recipe, 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.
  2. Rinse the eggplants with plenty of water and squeeze with your hands, to get rid of the excessive water. Pat them dry and fry in plenty of oil, until nicely colored. Place the fried eggplants on some paper, in order to absorb the oil. (For a lighter version of the traditional Greek moussaka try drizzling the aubergines with some olive oil and bake them for 20 minutes instead of frying them). Set aside when done.
  3. If you are adding potatoes to your moussaka, now its time to slice them into 0.5cm, half a finger width slices. Fry them or bake them in the same way as the eggplants. Season with some salt and set them aside when done.
  4. Prepare the meat sauce for the moussaka. Heat a large pan to medium-high heat and add the olive oil. Stir in the chopped onions and sauté, until softened and slightly colored. Stir in the mince breaking it up with a wooden spoon and sauté. When it starts to brown, add the the garlic and tomato paste and sauté until the garlic starts to soften. 
  5. Pour in the red wine to deglaze the meat juices and wait to evaporate. Add the tinned tomatoes, the sugar, a pinch of cinnamon, 1 bay leaf and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Bring to the boil then turn the heat down and simmer with the lid on for about 30 minutes or until most of the juices have evaporated. Set aside when done.

And as always have a chilled day from the Viking

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