Who hasn’t tried Moussaka? No one.
Who’s had a bad Moussaka? Everyone!
Here’s another classical Greek dish where the ingredients are tweaked but not toyed with. I’ve updated this dish, made it more healthy by grilling the eggplant and I use extra-lean ground beef.
Three skills are involved here: grilling, making a good meat sauce and executing a Bechamel Sauce.
Moussaka
(12 portions)
2 to 3 large Russet or Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled, cut into 1/4 inch slices
3 lbs. eggplants
1 1/2 lb. of extra lean ground beef
4 tbsp of olive oil
2 cups diced onions
3 bay leaves
4-5 cloves of minced garlic
1 -796ml can of plum tomatoes, pureed (or Pomodoro)
1/2 cup white wine
salt, pepper
1/2 tsp. ground allspice
3 tsp dried oregano
1/8th tsp cinnamon
- Place your potatoes on a parchment lined baking sheet. Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt. Bake for 10 minutes in a 400F oven.
- Wash and cut the eggplants into large, thin slices. Salt and them to drain for at least an hour. Pat them dry, brush them with olive oil, grill them on high heat (3 minutes per side) or place on parchment-lined baking sheets and bake for 10 minutes in a 400F oven and reserve.
- Prepare the meat sauce by pouring olive oil into a sauce pan and add your onions, garlic and bay leaves. Reduce to medium-low and cook until the onions are translucent. Add your beef and brown. Season with salt and pepper.
- Add your wine and reduce until there’s barely any liquid. Add your tomato sauce, oregano. Simmer until you have a thick meat sauce. Adjust seasoning and add your cinnamon. Remove the bay leaves and set aside your sauce.
Bechamel Sauce
2/3 cup butter
1 cup flour
5 cups of warm milk (no lighter than 2%)
4 eggs
1 cup of Kefalotiri or Romano cheese
salt to taste
pinch of grated nutmeg
- Put the butter in a pot to melt. Add the flour, stirring quickly with a wooden spoon to prevent lumps from forming. Stir & cook the flour/butter mixture to a golden colour.
- Pour in the milk while stirring and then and salt to taste, stirring the mixture constantly. When it thickens, turn off the heat and add your cheese and slowly pour in your eggs, continue stirring.
- Add your nutmeg and stir.
Assembly
- In a 13″ x 9″deep casserole, place one layer of potato on the bottom, followed by eggplant. Then spread some meat sauce over top and sprinkle with some grated cheese.
- Add the second layer of eggplant.
- Pour the Bechamel Sauce on top and sprinkle more grated cheese to help with a crisp, golden surface. Bake in a pre-heated 400F oven for 50-60 minutes or when top is golden brown.
- Allow the Moussaka to rest for 30 minutes before cutting and serving.
26 Responses
Mmmm… I just love Moussaka! Yours looks great, it got some awesome golden colour on the top. Yum!
Nice looking moussaka Peter! I love that you grilled your eggplant! I will do it that way, next time I make it! It is one of those all day cooking affairs which I love! A labor of love!
Jenn, I’m having another slab right now Also, it’s a good make-ahead dish…just make the Bechamel day of serving.
I love mussaka ! It’s so yummy !
This looks good. The cinnamon and nutmeg should make it interesting. And eggplants should be in season now. I will definitely have to look for some Kefalotiri cheese!
The spices, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg & oregano are the stars of moussaka!
They transform this dish from beef lasagna to a truly scrumptious dish! I really hope you included them! And I
use red wine in mine rather than white wine. Just my opinion 😊
Kevin, Romano cheese is a perfectly good substitute.
Your moussaka looks real good, I attempted one last night following a recipe (which, I had a feeling may need a bit of *tweaking* but made no changes!). The end result was tasty but a bit of a runny sauce. It didn’t brown quite as well on top, but the white sauce was different it contained yoghurt, a couple of eggs and feta cheese.
My first attempt at Moussaka was Peter’s recipe sans basil. The result was “phenomenal” in the words of my friends and co-workers. Every weekend I spend cooking Greek and I wouldn’t have the confidence and know-how to do so without this blog.
Thanks Peter!
I’ve never had Moussaka ;) I will try your recipe first.
I made you moussaka today and it was fabulous! Just like the ones I ate in the past…
Thanks for the recipe. A real keeper!
Cheers,
Rosa
I made this tonight for my family, and we all LOVED it! I was able to use the eggplant I picked at a farm a few days ago too, so that made me happy. This is so much easier than the Pastichio recipe I use, from now on I am using this meat mixture and bechamel for that too! I also loved that your recipe called for grilled eggplant instead of deep fried!!! Thanks you!
This recipe truly puts people on the right path for making a delicious moussaka. It is not oily, watery or heavy. I am not Greek, but I love Greek food and was spoiled by the fantastic Greek food I had while growing up and living in the New York metro area for 37 years of my life. Moussaka is not just any dish it is an art form that takes a few tries to get it just the way you want it in the pan that you want to cook it in. The inside measurement of my glass baking dish is 14 X 9 X 2 1/4. This is the same dish I use for lasagna, because I like making a large amount. I made this recipe last night for dinner. I used the eggplant from my own garden. It was almost perfect. The use grilled eggplant and not breaded is excellent. I wasn’t into grilling so I did fry it in a non-stick pan with a little bit of olive oil. My tip is, because you salt the eggplant and drain it, do not add any salt to the meat mixture. Only add pepper, bay leaves, oregano and cinnamon. I was concerned about the tomato puree that I used. I used 1 1/2 pounds of chopped meat as I like dishes to be meaty. I have a couple of questions. Why do we salt and drain the eggplant? Why did you choose to use Romano cheese? I look forward to also trying the Kefalotiri. I liked how my Bechamel Sauce came out, light and fluffy. Is it supposed to be that way? All the moussakas I’ve had, the Bechamel topping seemed to be heavier. I wonder why this one was so excellent and light? Thank you for creating this recipe. You must be an excellent chef.
I agree, absolutely delicious, if a bit slobbery!
I’d recommend making it a day or two ahead of time, to give the flavours (and the sauces) a chance to round out and fulfil their potential.
I sub’d ground turkey for the beef, and pureed a big spanish onion and a big vidalia onion with a head of garlic, and that worked fine.
Thank you for your excellent recipe. Just wondering about the potatoes… In Arcadia potatoes and zucchinis are typically fried n OO and then assembled. As for the bechamel – they use clarified butter or even better EVOO. Obviously, each region (and even household!) has its own favorite way to make this luscious dish. As an example the “Smyrnaiko” recipe uses strained yogurt in the bechamel.
You can fry if you like, I am making this lighter by avoiding the frying and making your assembly and clean up easier without sacrificing flavour. As for Bechamel, I prefer the classic like this one.
Hi Peter – I made your Moussaka last year sometime. Has the recipe been adjusted somehow? The one I made had less ground beef, and differenct quantities for some of the aromatics and spices? It was delicious as I recall.
Michael, no changes that i can recall. I just made 9 Moussakas, I can assure you they were still delicious.
I tried your mousaka recipe but the bechamel sauce was very runny not thick and spreadable. I had to ladle it on top. Is this is how it should be?
Noula, I’ve made this recipe several times, the Bechamel is thick. I am sure why yours turned out runny.
A marvelous recipe..I have been making moussaka for decades and this recipe is the best. I do not use potatoes ..my Greek husband’s family did not include potatoes in moussaka. They were islanders and perhaps potatoes were not important to them . In the interest of broadening my cooking I will try using potatoes , exactly as you describe . I serve Italian bread for sopping up the juices. Having a slab of feta adds to the Greekness of this wonderful dish which has a unique flavor.
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