Authentic Greek Moussaka

An excellent authentic Greek moussaka recipe! It's insanely delicious, easy to follow and always a HIT! Made up of thinly sliced potato layer at the bottom, followed by fried eggplant layer, fried zucchini layer, a flavorful, rich and thick beef sauce layer, a nicely creamy and thick bechamel sauce layer and finished off with a thin layer of Parmesan cheese. Such a great recipe to impress your family and friends!

Ingredients

700 g (1 ½ lbs) eggplants

500 g (1.1 lbs) zucchinis

700 g (1½ lbs) potatoes

7 tablespoons olive oil for browning zucchinis and eggplants

salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

For the beef sauce

1 tablespoon olive oil plus extra for greasing

2 medium onions

2 garlic cloves

1 tablespoon fresh thyme chopped

½ teaspoon sugar

500 g (1.1 lbs) beef ground

1 tablespoon tomato paste

400 g (14.1 oz) pureed tomatoes

200 ml (¾ cup/ 6.8 fl oz) beef stock

1 teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon nutmeg

salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

For the béchamel sauce (white sauce)

1 liter (33.8 fl oz/ about 4 cups) milk

100 g (3.5 oz) butter

100 g (¾ cup + 1 tablespoon) plain flour (all purpose flour)

125 g (1 1/3 cups/ 4.4 oz) Parmesan cheese grated

2 egg yolks

a pinch of nutmeg

salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Instructions

Begin by washing, drying and cutting zucchinis and eggplants into 1/2 cm thick slices. Line a large cutting board with paper towels. Arrange eggplant slices on the paper towels and sprinkle with salt. Cover with paper towels and let sit for 30 minutes. In the meantime heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in the pan and brown zucchini slices on both sides. Remove from the pan and set aside. After 30 minutes heat 1 tablespoon of the oil for frying eggplants in a large pan over high heat. Pat dry eggplant slices and arrange them in the pan. Drizzle the slices with another tablespoon olive oil and brown them. Repeat the process until you've used up all the eggplant slices.

Next peel and mince onions and garlic. In a large pan or pot heat 1 tablespoon olive oil and saute onions and garlic for about 5 minutes. Add thyme and sugar and combine well. Then add ground beef and let cook until brown. Add tomato paste, followed by beef stock and pureed tomatoes and cinnamon and nutmeg and mix well. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and let cook about 15 minutes, uncovered or until the sauce has thickened (In the meantime peel, wash and thinly slice the potatoes with a box grater). Season the meat sauce with salt and pepper and remove from the heat.

In a sauce pan or pot over medium heat melt the butter. Once the butter has melted add flour and whisk well. Slowly add milk while whisking (so that no clumps will appear) until you had used up the milk. Keep stirring constantly until the sauce starts to bubble and has thickened. Add two-thirds of the Parmesan cheese (from the 125 g/ 4.4 oz Parmesan cheese) and mix well until the cheese has melted. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Remove from the heat and stir in the egg yolks. Now take 3 tablespoons of bechamel sauce that you've just made and add them to the meat sauce and stir well. Next preheat the oven the oven to 180 °C (356 °F) with both up and low heat.

Once you've made the bechamel sauce, meat sauce, browned zucchinis and eggplants and thinly sliced the potatoes you're all set. So now grease a deep casserole dish (23 x 35 cm (9 x 13 inches)). Arrange the thin slices of potatoes at the bottom and sprinkle them with salt, pepper and a pinch of nutmeg. Add the layer of eggplants followed by the zucchini layer. Season the zucchini layer with salt and pepper. Then spread the meat sauce over the zucchini layer followed by the bechamel sauce. Sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan cheese and bake for 40 minutes. Let moussaka rest for at least 30 minutes before serving. I normally let my moussaka rest inside the still warm oven with door closed. Enjoy!