Very long picked up the recipe for the moussaka, which once tasted in Greece. Finally found it. It tastes good, REALLY!❤
This is a traditional Greek dish, is a casserole of minced meat, vegetables, and white sauce. A million variations, but I like lamb with eggplant and béchamel sauce and cheese. This moussaka will love even those who do not love eggplant and those who do not like meat casseroles, like me;)
1. General infa. The process is: prepare a stuffing with spices, baked eggplant and cooked the sauce then the casserole assembled and baked. Therefore, the time should be distributed so that all components of the casseroles were ready at the same time.
2. Meat filling. 2 onions, peel, wash, chop finely dice and saute in the oil for frying in deep skillet to brown colour with 2 palachami cinnamon, and 3 Laurel leaves. At this time grind 5-6 cloves of garlic and cook for 1 hour.l. cumin(cumin). Once the onions softened and slightly fried, add garlic and cumin, stirring intensively. Fry no more than 1 minute. Then add 1kg of minced lamb, stir and cook until all the mince is pink turned to brown, and it will definitely stand out mutton fat. Next, a very unusual moment, but without it, your moussaka will be vague. You need to throw the meat into a colander and drain off fat 5 minutes. Return the beef to the skillet, add 200-300 ml. of dry red wine 400g chopped tomatoes Pilati, 800 g of tomatoes in own juice (the juice not to put the tomatoes and remove the green core) or tomato passata, 2 tbsp tomato puree 2 tsp oregano 0.5 tsp. nutmeg. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cook until the complete evaporation of liquid (approximately 1 hour). After that, take out the minced Bay leaves and cinnamon, and add salt and pepper to taste. You can also add sweetener to taste (1-2 tbsp Jerusalem artichoke syrup). The meat filling is ready.
3. Eggplant. While stewed beef, you can do the eggplant and then sauce. 2 large aubergine cut into very thin (about 3mm wide), spread (can be overlapped) on greased baking paper, just a little salt and pepper and bake at 180C until a strong degree of zagarenski. It is approximately 30-40 minutes.
Important 1. If the eggplants are ready a little earlier than the rest of the ingredients – do not pull them out of the oven, they dry instantly, and you can’t separate them from each other. Let stand in the heat and waiting in the wings)
Important 2. In a classic recipe for eggplant fried in oil, but in this dish, and the meat is fatty, and the sauce, why and eggplant girnet?) But if you want direct authentic, then fry them in oil in a frying pan parties.
4. Bechamel sauce with cheese. Eggplants are laid, the meat is stewed, you can start to make the sauce. Grate 100g of delicious flavored cheese (I had a 50/50 Italian Parmesan and Swiss gruyère). Heat in a small saucepan 65g. butter (I have ghee), add 3 tbsp wheat flour (I tsz), stir and fry for 1 minute, then pour 600ml milk sauce stirring constantly with a whisk to avoid lumps. Cook on medium heat until thick (7-10 minutes), add half the grated cheese, a pinch of nutmeg, salt and pepper to taste, stir. The sauce is ready.
5. Assembling the moussaka. Form for baking grease with oil (I have a round frying pan 26cm). All the ingredients divide into 2 parts because the layers will be repeated twice. Place a layer of eggplant, then a layer of meat and sauce, repeat layers. On top sprinkle with cheese and bake for 25min at 200C. Ideally, the casserole should be allowed to cool put into the refrigerator and eat the next day. So it is fully saturated and mutually exchange their flavors, and also great to keep the shape. 