Greek Moussaka
This Greek moussaka layers fried eggplant with a thick, wine-reduced meat sauce and a baked cheese custard topping. The sauce is cooked down until almost dry, so the layers hold together when sliced. Cinnamon and bay simmer in the meat, and cinnamon and nutmeg go into the cheese sauce, which gives the dish its warm, savory character. Beef or lamb both work, and a rest after baking keeps the slices neat.
Instructions
Cut the eggplant into 5 mm slices, lay them out and sprinkle generously with salt to draw out the bitterness. Leave them for at least an hour.
Heat the olive oil in a saucepan and cook the onion and garlic until the onion starts to change colour. Add the meat and brown it thoroughly.
Add the bay leaves and cinnamon stick and keep stirring until all the moisture from the meat has cooked off.
Stir in the tomatoes, herbs and the remaining sauce ingredients, then cook for 15 minutes, stirring now and then. Add the wine and keep cooking until the sauce is very thick with almost no liquid left. Remove the bay leaves and cinnamon stick and let the sauce cool.
For the cheese sauce, melt the butter in another saucepan over low heat, take it off the heat and blend in the flour. Return it to the heat for 3 minutes, stirring constantly so it does not burn. Off the heat, stir in the milk, bring to the boil, then simmer gently for one minute while stirring. Remove from the heat, mix in the cheeses, nutmeg, cinnamon and pepper, and let it cool.
Rinse the eggplant slices under running water and dry them on paper towels. Heat olive oil in a frying pan, turn each slice quickly to coat both sides in the hot oil, and fry until the slices change colour and turn soft. Drain them and repeat with the remaining slices.
In a large casserole dish, cover the base with eggplant slices and spread a layer of meat sauce over them. Keep alternating eggplant and meat sauce until you are within 3 cm of the top of the dish.
Mix the egg thoroughly into the cooled cheese sauce and spoon it over the top layer. Sprinkle with extra grated cheese and bake at 200 °C (400 °F) for 45 minutes.
Let the moussaka rest for 10 minutes so it sets before cutting. Serve with a tossed Greek salad, red wine and crusty garlic bread.
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