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Moussaka

This one is a big long winded but totally worth it. It’s a great alternative to lasagne if you’re not into pasta. You have to bring together 4 different things but if you follow the instructions and use timers it should be manageable.

OK, lets get into it.

 

Ingredients in order of appearance. 

 

2-3 onions

3-4 cloves of garlic

1 tsp oregano

packed of minced beef or lamb

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 bay leaf

6-7 chopped mint leaves

 

2 good sized aubergines

 

1 kg of potatoes

 

100 g of butter

50g of plain flour 

50g of finely grated parmesan

1 litre of milk

1/2 tsp grated nutmeg,

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

 

grated cheese

 

 

 

 

 

First finely chop 2-3 onions and 3-4 cloves of garlic.

Put a large pot on medium heat and throw in a good glug of cooking oil. Once hot add the onions and fry until translucent – so around 4-5 minutes. Then add the oregano and stir through for a minute or so. Now add the chopped garlic and fry for another few minutes.

 

If you can’t be bothered with all that kerfuffle just throw in the onions, garlic and oregano all together.

Turn the heat to full and get the pot nice and hot for a couple of minutes. Then throw in the minced meat, you can use beef or lamb. Keep the heat on high and mix the meat with the onions.

 

Throw in the cinnamon powder and continue stirring.

 

The meat might start to stick to the bottom of the pan but don’t worry, we’ll unstick it later and all that sticky caramelised stuff will add flavour.

Once the meat has browned add the wine, let it sizzle and reduce a little. Then add a can of chopped tomatoes, a tablespoons of tomato puree and a cup of water. Now throw in a bay leaf and some chopped mint leaves.

 

Stir it through and once it boils turn the heat down to medium/low and leave to simmer for 30-45 minutes.

 

 

Next, the aubergines; wash them and slice into thinnish slices. Lay them out on a baking try, season with lots of salt and leave while you sort out the potatoes.

Right, the potatoes. Peel around a kilo of potatoes. If they’re big cut them in halves and aim to get equal sized pieces. Wash and throw into another pot with cold water so that they’re covered.

 

They’ll take at least 10 minutes to boil so back to the aubergines. All you have to do now is put them in the oven at around 130 C for 15minutes to soften them up. They should go slightly brown on the top.  

 

OK, take a break, maybe try some of that wine from earlier if you haven’t already 😊

 

 

When the potatoes start boiling, turn the heat down so that the pot is simmering and put the timer on 7-10 minutes.

 

The timing does depend on the potatoes a little so you have to keep testing, White potatoes will soften a lot quicker than Maris Piper for example.

 

The potatoes are ready to take out once a sharp knife pierces the potatoes 1cm-ish before stopping. We’re going to slice them so we don’t want them like mush, just parboiled.

Right the next thing to happen will be that the potatoes are ready. Drain into a colander and then put them back into the pot with cold water so that you can handle them.

 

Now start slicing, yep, slice up all the potatoes, they might seem like a lot of potatoes but we’ll get through them. Don’t worry about precision – the moussaka is very forgiving 😊

While you were chopping the aubergines probably beeped, check if they’re brown on top, if not leave in for another 5 minutes and check again, repeat if necessary.

 

Phew, almost there, so the potatoes should be sliced, the aubergines should be browned and out of the oven and the meat should have thickened up nicely.

You can take the meat off the heat when its kinda dry and thick like the picture.

Almost there, now we have to make béchamel and lots of it. Don’t worry Béchamel is just a posh French word for white sauce. Right, to make your life easier, place at hand, a bag of flour and stick a table spoon in it, a carton of milk, around 100g of butter chopped into cubes, around 50g of finely grated cheese, the nutmeg and your salt and pepper mills.

 

Put a pot on medium heat and melt the butter. As soon as the butter is all liquid add 50g of plain flour so around 3-4 tablespoons while continuously stirring. The mixture should start turning into a hot dough, as soon as it does add half a litre of milk.

Remember to stir all the time and if you see the milk starting to boil turn the heat down slightly.  Now add around ½ teaspoon of freshly grated nutmeg, around a teaspoon of salt and a little pepper. Keep stirring and add the remaining ½ litre of milk. The béchamel will start to thicken up and you need to keep stirring until it does – sorry it’ll be totally worth it. Once the béchamel is nice and milkshake thick, but not quite pancake batter thick, turn the heat off.

 

Alternatively, you can buy store bought white sauce, works the same but you got this – home-made is the way.

 

Sorry the pictures aren't great here, I was trying to stir and not drop my iPhone into the sauce at the same time !!

OK, now to put this damn moussaka together.

 

Get a big oven dish and oil it all over.

 

Start with the béchamel, spread it all over the bottom.

Then layer 1/3 of the potatoes.

 

Then add 1/3 of the meat, again spread all over.

 

Layer on the aubergine slices.

 

Now go again

  1. Béchamel 

  2. Potatoes.

  3. Meat

  4. Aubergines.

 

And again ...

I wouldn’t worry too much about the sequence, I get it wrong all the time. ( whispers - it doesn’t really matter ).

 

Finally finish with the béchamel and a thick coating of cheese.

 

Lord almighty that was a lot of work – but you’re done.

 

Stick it in the oven on around 160 for around an hour and a half and keep an eye on the cheese in case it browns too fast. If the cheese starts browning too fast, lower the moussaka in the oven or lower the heat and cook for longer.

 

You can’t really go wrong, either cook on around 160 for 90 minutes or around 130 for 2 hours.

Once the moussaka is done you really need to leave it until the next day. I know, I know, it’s was hard work and it smells delicious – it needs to be inside my face right now. OK fine, just try to let it set for at least 45 minutes.

 

It does get a lot easier once you’ve done it a few times and it’s so worth the effort. It will keep in the fridge for 4-5 days.

 

Enjoy your block of joy.

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