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Moussaka is a layered casserole made with layers of eggplant, meat, and a béchamel sauce. In this video, Eva shows us her slightly healthier take on this classic Greek dish. Rather than frying the eggplant, Eva broils the sliced eggplant in the oven for 10 minutes on each side. Her recipe also calls for sliced potatoes to serve as the base of the dish along with the eggplant.
For the Base:
- 9 Indian eggplants
- 2 potatoes
- 1 tablespoon of olive oil
- 1 cup of mozzarella cheese
- ½ cup of parmesan cheese
- ½ cup of breadcrumbs
For the Meat:
- 1 pound of ground beef
- 1 quarter cup of onion
- 2 cloves of garlic (minced)
- 1 quarter cup of freshly chopped parsley
- 2 fresh tomatoes chopped or the juice of ½ can of tomato juice
- 2 tablespoons of olive oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
For the Béchamel sauce:
- ½ cup of butter
- 2/3 cup of flour
- 3 cups of warmed milk
- 3 eggs
Slice the potatoes and eggplants into ½- inch slices. Place the slices on an oil pan in the oven for 10 minutes. Flip the eggplant and potatoes and cook the other side for another 10 minutes. Once eggplant is ready, remove from the pan and let them dry on paper towel.
To prepare the meat:
In a large skillet over high heat, add the olive oil, ground beef, onion, and garlic. Next add salt, pepper, and parsley. Once the meat has browned add the tomato juice. Let the meat cook until all the juice is gone. Be sure to stir the meat continuously. Once the meat has cooked, set aside.
To prepare the béchamel sauce:
In a medium pot, heat the butter and mix in the flour. Add 3 cups of milk to the mixture. Stir continuously as the mixture begins to thicken. Once the mixture begins to boil, it will thicken. If you find that your mixture is lumpy, simply strain it. Once the sauce has begun to thicken, remove it from the heat.
Now that you have prepared the vegetables, the meat, and the sauce you can now begin assembling the moussaka.
Preheat the oven at 325 degrees.
Lightly brush a medium size pan with olive oil. Place your potato slices on the bottom of the pan. Next, layer the pan with about half of your sliced eggplants. Next, spread about half of the shredded mozzarella cheese and a sprinkle of parmesan cheese.
Next, add the cooked ground beef. Spread the mixture evenly onto the cheese.
Place the remaining slices of eggplant over the meat. Spread the remainder of the mozzarella cheese on top of the eggplant.
Before you add your sauce to the moussaka, fold in 3 beaten eggs into your béchamel sauce. Once the eggs are mixed in, pour the sauce evenly over the moussaka. Sprinkle some parmesan cheese and about half a cup of breadcrumbs over the moussaka.
Cook at 325 degrees for 1 hour.
Enjoy!
This moussaka tastes fantastic. Followed the recipe exactly. Thank you Eva!!
I am from Germany and I am so happy that I have found this page! Thank you for this nice recipe it was delicious:)!!!
I found it even richer with ground lamb. I really appreciate your recipe, Eva! Efharisto! Yassou!
I made this recipe a few months ago and it was wonderful and since it was so good my husband asked me to make it this weekend!
I usually dislike aubergines but I decided to try out this recipe anyway. And I was very, very pleasantly surprised – no eggplant slime! :-) I was out of milk so I made the bechamel with 2 cups of cream instead and it was nice. Had no parsley so I used some dried Cretan oregano instead. Recipe works very well. Efharisto poli Eva! :-)
Love it! We tend to improvise a lot, and it usually works out in the end
It was the less complicated moussaka recipe that I found online.
Eva explains so well.
I just made this recipe for dinner tonight and my husband loved it.
It was a lot of work but it worth it. It was delicious. Thanks Eva for sharing the recipe.
This wAs the first time I ever attempted to make moussaka. It took a bit of time to make it however the outcome was worth it. There was a good balance of flavours and The grilled eggplant as opposed to fried made the difference.. No excess oil. Easy recipe to follow.
Made this for the first time about two weeks ago. I made just some minor changes. I added about 1/2 tsp of cinnamon and a little nutmeg as well as some oregano to the ground beef. My husband who doesn’t like or eat eggplant had three helping the first time and hounded for me to make it again. Great recipe and wonderful to watch it being made. Thanks!!