Greece · Main · Hard
Moussaka
Rome's most famous pasta. Silky egg and Pecorino sauce clinging to every strand, studded with crisp guanciale. No cream, ever.
The whole recipe in 60 seconds
Moussaka, in 5 ideas
- Salt the eggplant, no shortcuts. Thirty minutes draws out the bitter juices and collapses the spongy texture so it fries instead of drinking oil.
- Dry the eggplant completely. After rinsing off the salt, pat bone dry. Wet eggplant steams. Dry eggplant browns.
- Cinnamon in lamb is the Greek signature. It sounds odd and tastes perfect. Do not skip it and do not substitute beef without adjusting expectations.
- Warm the milk for the bechamel. Cold milk into hot roux makes lumps. Warm milk goes in smooth.
- Temper the eggs. Whisk a ladle of hot bechamel into the beaten eggs first, then stir that back in. Dumping cold eggs into hot sauce makes scrambled bechamel.
What you need
Ingredients
- 3 large eggplants, sliced 1/2 inch thick
- Salt
- 1/2 cup olive oil, plus more for brushing
- 2 lbs ground lamb
- 2 onions, chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 (28 oz) can crushed tomatoes
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp allspice
- 1/2 cup red wine
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 6 tbsp butter
- 6 tbsp flour
- 4 cups whole milk, warmed
- 3 eggs, beaten
- 1 cup grated kefalotyri or Parmesan, divided
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
How to make it
Directions
- Salt the eggplant slices generously and layer in a colander. Rest 30 minutes, then rinse and pat completely dry. This draws out bitterness and water.
- Brush the slices with olive oil and broil or pan-fry until golden on both sides, about 4 minutes per side. Set aside.
- Brown the lamb in a large pot, breaking it up, about 8 minutes. Add the onions and cook until soft, then the garlic, cinnamon, and allspice. Stir in the tomato paste, wine, and crushed tomatoes. Simmer 25 minutes until thick. Season with salt.
- For the bechamel, melt the butter, whisk in the flour, and cook 2 minutes. Gradually whisk in the warm milk until smooth and thick, about 8 minutes. Off the heat, whisk in the eggs, half the cheese, nutmeg, and salt.
- Heat the oven to 350F. In a deep baking dish, layer half the eggplant, all the meat sauce, then the remaining eggplant. Pour the bechamel over the top and smooth it out. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese.
- Bake 45 to 50 minutes, until the top is deeply golden and puffed. Rest at least 20 minutes before cutting, or the layers will slide apart.
Rest it or regret it. Twenty minutes minimum. The bechamel needs to set or your beautiful layers become a landslide on the plate.