Call it a lasagna and you'll wake up to a Trojan horse at your door
Silky eggplant, cinnamon-spiced lamb sauce and a thick, wobbly béchamel crown, baked until bronzed and bubbling. It's a weekend project, but one slice and you'll forgive it everything.
The challenge
- Salting and draining eggplant
- Preventing watery layers
- Béchamel without lumps
- Layering structural integrity
- Long baking without drying
Greek layered casserole that's basically lasagna's Mediterranean cousin with higher stakes. A spiced meat sauce (usually lamb) simmers with tomatoes, while you're simultaneously wrestling a béchamel into submission without lumps.
The assembly is architectural: eggplant, meat sauce, more eggplant, thick béchamel cap, then into the oven for nearly an hour. Each layer needs to set properly while staying moist, and cutting into it too early means watching your carefully constructed tower collapse into a plate of expensive slop.
Prep: 1 hour 15 minutes · Cook: 2 hours (plus 45 minutes resting)
Ingredients
For the eggplant
- 3 large eggplants (aubergines), about 1.3 kg (2.9 lb)
- 1 tbsp salt
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 2 medium potatoes, peeled and sliced 5 mm (1/4 in) thick (optional base layer)
For the meat sauce
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, crushed
- 800 g (1.75 lb) lamb mince (ground lamb)
- 125 ml (1/2 cup) dry red wine
- 400 g (14 oz) can crushed tomatoes
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground allspice
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 bay leaf
For the béchamel
- 90 g (6 tbsp) butter
- 90 g (2/3 cup) plain (all-purpose) flour
- 900 ml (3 3/4 cups) warm whole milk
- 1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
- 2 egg yolks
- 80 g (3/4 cup) grated kefalotyri or parmesan
Method
- Salt the eggplantSlice the eggplants lengthways about 1 cm (1/2 in) thick. Sprinkle both sides with salt and lay in a colander for 45 minutes to draw out bitter moisture. Rinse briefly and squeeze gently, then pat completely dry with towels.
- Roast the eggplant and potatoesPreheat the oven to 220°C (430°F). Brush the eggplant and potato slices with olive oil, lay them in single layers on lined trays and roast for 20–25 minutes, turning once, until soft and golden. Roasting instead of frying keeps them from soaking up oil and turning soggy.
- Brown the lambHeat the olive oil in a wide pan over medium-high heat and fry the onion for 6 minutes until soft. Add the garlic, then the lamb, and cook, breaking it up, until well browned, about 10 minutes.
- Simmer the saucePour in the wine and let it bubble away for 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, cinnamon, allspice, oregano and bay leaf. Season and simmer uncovered for 40–45 minutes, stirring now and then, until thick with almost no free liquid. A wet sauce means a watery moussaka.
- Make the béchamelMelt the butter over medium heat, whisk in the flour and cook for 2 minutes without browning. Add the warm milk a ladle at a time, whisking constantly until smooth before adding more. Simmer, whisking, for 5 minutes until thick enough to coat a spoon heavily.
- Finish the béchamelTake it off the heat and let it cool for 5 minutes, then whisk in the nutmeg, half the cheese and the egg yolks one at a time. Season with salt and white pepper. If any lumps sneak in, push it through a sieve.
- Layer it upLower the oven to 180°C (350°F). In a deep 23 x 33 cm (9 x 13 in) dish, lay the potatoes (if using), then half the eggplant. Spread over all the meat sauce and press it level, then add the rest of the eggplant.
- Cap with béchamelPour the béchamel over the top, spreading it right to the edges to seal everything in. Scatter with the remaining cheese.
- BakeBake for 50–60 minutes until the top is deep golden in spots and the edges are bubbling. If it browns too fast, loosely cover with foil to stop it drying out.
- Rest before cuttingLet the moussaka rest for at least 45 minutes before slicing. This is when the layers set. Cut too soon and it slumps into a puddle.
- Lock the gatesSlice it into tidy squares and serve. If anyone at the table says the L-word (lasagna), take their plate back and check the front yard for wooden horses. Opa.
Tips from the trenches
- Dry the eggplant properly after salting. Every drop of water left in it ends up on the plate.
- Reduce the meat sauce until you can drag a spoon through it and the line holds.
- Warm milk plus constant whisking equals lump-free béchamel. Add it gradually and don't walk away.
- Make it a day ahead if you can: chilled and reheated moussaka slices like a dream.
“It's a challenge to demonstrate that you can prepare something really interesting with humble ingredients.”— Charlie Trotter
