Greek Moussaka (mousaka) is definitely, Greece’s hottest, conventional dish! You’ll be arduous pressed to discover a taverna that doesn’t serve it or a family that doesn’t make it on particular events!
So what’s Moussaka? Moussaka is a conventional Greek eggplant casserole made with baked or pan fried eggplants (aubergines) and potatoes, a wealthy, tomatoey beef or lamb mince sauce and topped off with a deliciously creamy bechamel sauce. In different phrases, the final word consolation meals.
That is my best, conventional Moussaka recipe as handed on to me by my grandmother. To make it straightforward so that you can make one of the best Moussaka, I’ve put collectively:
- my step-by-step recipe,
- these secret ideas and methods that make all of the distinction,
- how you can retailer it when you’re making it prematurely, and better of all,
- my arms on recipe video so that you can watch!
So go forward, indulge your self on this little sin and let’s get began!
Conventional Greek Moussaka Key Preparation Steps
Many individuals consider that making Moussaka is troublesome. Nevertheless, that might not be additional away from the reality! Making your Moussaka comes all the way down to the beneath 4 quite simple steps:
- getting ready the moussaka eggplants (aubergines) and potatoes,
- getting ready the lamb or beef tomato sauce,
- getting ready the béchamel sauce
- And naturally, assembling it and baking it till completely golden brown! You’ll must soiled up some pans, however the finish result’s properly price it!
Greek Moussaka recipe: Making ready the eggplants and potatoes
The eggplants (aubergines) and potatoes are the inspiration of a Greek Moussaka (Muscaca) they usually serve two very completely different functions. The sliced potatoes are the bottom for the dish, give it robustness and make it straightforward to chop and serve. Then again, the aubergines act like little sponges. They take in the scrumptious tomato sauce and provides the dish its unimaginable juiciness and creaminess. These are my prime tricks to put together them to perfection!
Making ready your moussaka potatoes
- Get your self some starchy potatoes like Russet, Idaho, Yukon gold or Marris Piper.
- Peel and slice them in uniform disks of about the identical thickness as your little finger (round 1cm).
- Lastly rinse them underneath some operating water to eliminate the surplus starch.
Making ready the moussaka eggplants (aubergines)
Firstly, you’ll want to purchase your self some massive eggplants – the most important you will discover on the grocery store! Slice the eggplants, with out peeling them, in uniform disks of about the identical thickness as your potatoes. Rinse them totally with water till the water runs clear and season them with sprinkle of salt. Lastly, allow them to sit in a colander for half an hour.
Tip: Some eggplants (aubergines) could be bitter so it is very important put together them accurately. Rinsing them, salting them and letting them relaxation removes that bitterness and they’ll style deliciously candy, creamy and with no trace of bitterness in any respect!
Baking or frying the Moussaka eggplants (aubergines) and potatoes?
Historically, the Moussaka eggplants and potatoes are shallow fried till golden brown. That is how most tavena’s make their moussaka as a result of shallow frying provides an unimaginable lusciousness to the dish that’s arduous to withstand. Nevertheless, I a lot choose a lighter moussaka that’s not too oily and greasy.
So, I bake my moussaka aubergines and potatoes as an alternative. Your moussaka will transform lighter, with much less energy and can style simply as superb! Now you may take pleasure in extra of your moussaka guilt free! So, drizzle your sliced aubergines and potatoes with some olive oil, season with pinch of salt and pepper and bake them in sheet pans for 20 minutes at 180C/350F till they’re half method cooked and barely browned on the surface.
Tip: Don’t neglect your eggplants (aubergines) will shrink when baked, so be sure to slice sufficient to provide you round 3 layers of protection. When baked, they may shrink down to only the correct quantity for two luscious layers!
Tip: When baked, sliced aubergines have a tendency to stay to the sheet pans. To stop that from occurring, bake them in non-stick sheets or overlap the slices somewhat bit so they’re partially lifted from the underside of your sheet pan. They’ll then come proper off with none of their flesh sticking to the sheets!
Tip: You possibly can bake the potatoes in the identical baking tray that you just’ll use to bake your Moussaka in. Not solely will you slice and layer the precise variety of potatoes, however you’ll additionally find yourself with much less washing as much as do!
Including potatoes to your Moussaka (or not)?
Over time I’ve witnessed loads of debate whether or not Moussaka must be made with simply eggplants or additionally with potatoes. From my expertise, I discover that including potatoes as the bottom layer of my moussaka makes the dish, extra full. The starchiness of the potatoes completely enhances the tanginess of the sauce, the sweetness of the aubergines and the creaminess of the béchamel cream.
Including potatoes to the moussaka makes the dish extra strong, balanced and flavourful! So, I have to admit that I’m a fan of creating my moussaka with potatoes! In case you haven’t tried it, give it a go subsequent time and I’m positive you’ll love them too!
Making ready the Greek Moussaka Meat Sauce
Conventional Greek Moussaka (mousakka) requires both lamb mince or a mixture of lamb and beef. Nevertheless, when you can’t deal with or don’t just like the sturdy flavour of lamb or when you choose a lighter Moussaka, you may substitute lamb mince with good high quality beef or veal mince. Additionally you may make it absolutely vegan with my vegan moussaka with lentils recipe as properly!
After you’re completed getting ready your greens, it’s time to organize your Moussaka meat sauce. In essence, a Moussaka meat sauce is similar to a fundamental Bolognese sauce. The bottom meat is sautéed in olive oil, onions and garlic. It’s then deglazed with some crimson wine and, lastly, it’s simmered with chopped tomatoes till thickened.
However there are additionally some key variations. Firstly, the spices used for the Moussaka (musaka) meat sauce infuse the meat and provides it a deliciously contemporary style and scent that characterises this conventional Greek dish!
Secondly, the Moussaka meat sauce must be very thick,so it doesn’t soak by way of the greens. When you’ve added the spices let the sauce simmer over low warmth till it has lowered and thickened. This will even assist the flavours absolutely develop. Simply keep in mind to often stir it so it doesn’t keep on with the underside of your pan.
Lastly, your Moussaka meat sauce must be properly seasoned. As soon as the Moussaka sauce has thickened season with salt and pepper. Add some, stir, style and add some extra if wanted. Seasoning in the long run will assist you to keep away from over or underneath seasoning your sauce!
Greek Moussaka recipe – Put together the Béchamel sauce
A standard Greek Moussaka recipe wants a luscious bechamel sauce. Nevertheless, that is additionally the trickiest half to get proper! So how you can make it to perfection? It’s all all the way down to having the best thickness, whisking continually whereas it’s cooking, enriching it with eggs and cheese, and, including simply the correct quantity of salt in the long run.
Moussaka wants a thick and creamy bechamel. A skinny béchamel sauce will soak by way of the meat sauce and received’t provide you with that creamy thick layer that sits on prime and makes your Moussaka stand out! So, when getting ready your bechamel, be sure to cook dinner it lengthy sufficient, till it resembles a thick custard.
To arrange your Moussaka bechamel sauce begin by first melting your butter on excessive warmth. Add the entire flour, whisk it till the butter is absolutely absorbed into the flour and let it cook dinner for a few minutes till it barely browns. Flip down the warmth to medium and add the milk somewhat bit at a time. Watch for the milk to soak up into the flour, add some extra and repeat till you’ve used all of the milk within the recipe. Your béchamel sauce is prepared when it has thickened and resembles a custard, like the image beneath.
Tip: You’ll should be continually whisking whilst you’re including the milk. Cooking your béchamel sauce whereas whisking over a low warmth will forestall it from burning and sticking to the underside of your pan. I at all times use a hand mixer with the whisk attachment to assist me with the whisking as I discover it fairly tiring to do all of it by hand!
Now it’s time to season and enrich your béchamel. Take away the pan from the range and add the cheese, the nutmeg and two teaspoons of salt. Whisk till mixed, style your béchamel and add another teaspoon of salt if it nonetheless tastes bland. I discover it superb how somewhat little bit of salt can actually carry the flavour of your béchamel and make the moussaka style superb right through!
Lastly add your egg yolks and shortly whisk so the eggs absolutely incorporate within the combination. When your Moussaka is baking, the eggs will thicken your béchamel and provide you with a extra distinct and creamy layer over your aubergines!
Assemble your Conventional Greek Moussaka!
Now that your greens, your béchamel and your meat sauce are prepared it’s time to assemble your dish! Firstly, choose the deepest baking dish that you’ve got at hand to verify you need to use all of your meat sauce and béchamel with out worry that it received’t match and spill over! For my recipe beneath a 20x30cm/8x12inch and 8cm/3 inch deep baking dish is good.
To assemble your Moussaka, begin by layering your potatoes on the backside of your baking dish. Break up your aubergines in two tons. You’ll want the primary lot to layer over the potatoes and the second lot to cowl the meat sauce. Unfold the primary layer of aubergines over your potatoes. When you’ve got too few aubergines house them out a bit. When you’ve got too many, overlap them a bit so all of them match!
Utilizing a big ladle or spoon, pour your meat sauce over your aubergines and unfold it evenly. Unfold your second aubergine layer over the meat sauce, spacing them out evenly. Lastly utilizing a big ladle add the béchamel and unfold it out evenly, ensuring your complete moussaka is roofed!
Lastly sprinkle a little bit of grated cheese on prime. When your moussaka is baked, the cheese will soften and provides it a scrumptious golden brown coloration! Your conventional Greek Moussaka is now able to bake or to retailer it within the fridge and bake it later!
Making ready your Moussaka prematurely
There are 3 ways to organize your Moussaka prematurely. You possibly can bake it and reheat it, retailer it within the fridge unbaked and bake it on the day or bake it from frozen.
Bake and reheat: That is the way in which to go if you’re quick on time on the day you need to serve your moussaka. Bake it the day earlier than, let it calm down, wrap it in cling movie and retailer within the fridge. If you need to serve it, simply pop it within the oven for half-hour at 150C / 300F to reheat.
Bake on the day: That is the way in which to go if you need your moussaka to be piping scorching and contemporary on your massive day! When you could have assembled your moussaka, let it calm down, wrap it with cling movie and retailer it within the fridge raw. Then go forward and bake it on the day for about 1 hour at 180C/350F.
Bake from frozen: That is the way in which to go if you wish to bake and serve your moussaka greater than a few days later. When you could have assembled your moussaka and it has absolutely cooled down, wrap it in cling movie and retailer it within the freezer raw. Watch out to retailer it flat so the bechamel doesn’t pour out! It’ll maintain for as much as a month and be simply as contemporary when baked and served! To serve, warmth up your oven to 180C/350F and bake it for about 1 hour half-hour, till it’s cooked by way of.
Moussaka leftovers: In case you simply have some leftovers that you just’d prefer to maintain for greater than a few days, minimize them up in particular person parts and retailer them in hermetic containers within the freezer. To serve them, pop them within the oven for about 45 minutes at 150C/300F till they’ve defrosted and heated up all through.
Tip: You need to use a kitchen knife to examine in case your Moussaka has defrosted. Poke the middle of your piece/tray together with your knife, pick a few of the meat sauce and examine whether it is piping scorching.
What goes properly together with your Moussaka?
The normal Greek Moussaka is handily a meal by itself! I personally love consuming my moussaka with a conventional Greek Salad, a Greek Orzo Salad (Orzo feta salad), some crusty bread to mop up that scrumptious meat sauce, a scrumptious tzatziki as a facet and, why not, with a juicy saganaki or a Feta Saganaki some dolmades (stuffed vine leaves) and crunchy Greek Meatballs as a starter! And naturally some scrumptious Loukoumades, baklava, or galaktoboureko as a dessert!
Love eggplants? Check out my favorite stuffed eggplants with mince (papoutsakia), my scrumptious eggplant dip, pan-fried battered eggplants and tagliatelle with eggplants and feta cheese recipes which I’m positive you’ll love as properly!
Love that creamy béchamel? In case you love moussaka, then I’m positive you’ll fall in love with the standard pastitsio, the Greek model of Lasagne!
Are you a vegetarian or observing lent? To not fear, there’s at all times a approach to take pleasure in this scrumptious dish! My scrumptious Vegan Moussaka with lentils recipe with a lentil-mushroom based mostly sauce is made for you!
So go forward, give this conventional Greek Moussaka recipe a attempt to amaze your family and friends with this further tasty hearty dish! And naturally, don’t neglect to let me know what you considered it within the feedback beneath!
Description
The easiest conventional Greek Moussaka recipe. Think about layers of juicy beef mince, candy eggplants, and creamy béchamel sauce baked to perfection!
Base components
For the meat sauce
For the bechamel sauce
- To arrange this Greek moussaka recipe, start by getting ready the eggplants. Take away the stalks from the eggplants and minimize them into slices, 1 cm thick. Season with salt and place in a colander for about half an hour.
- Rinse the eggplants with loads of water and squeeze together with your arms, to eliminate the extreme water. Pat them dry and fry in loads of oil, till properly coloured. Place the fried eggplants on some paper, as a way to take in the oil. (For a lighter model of the standard Greek moussaka attempt drizzling the aubergines with some olive oil and bake them for 20 minutes as an alternative of frying them). Put aside when completed.
- In case you are including potatoes to your moussaka, now its time to slice them into 0.5cm, half a finger width slices. Fry them or bake them in the identical method because the eggplants. Season with some salt and set them apart when completed.
- Put together the meat sauce for the moussaka. Warmth a big pan to medium-high warmth and add the olive oil. Stir within the chopped onions and sauté, till softened and barely coloured. Stir within the mince breaking it up with a wood spoon and sauté. When it begins to brown, add the the garlic and tomato paste and sauté till the garlic begins to melt. Pour within the crimson wine to deglaze the meat juices and wait to evaporate. Add the tinned tomatoes, the sugar, a pinch of cinnamon, 1 bay leaf, the cloves and pinch of salt and pepper. Convey to the boil then flip the warmth down and simmer with the lid on for about half-hour or till a lot of the juices have evaporated. Put aside when completed.
- Put together the béchamel sauce for the moussaka. Use a big pan to soften the butter over low-medium warmth. Add the flour whisking repeatedly to make a paste. Add warmed milk in a gentle stream; maintain whisking as a way to forestall your sauce from getting lumpy. If the sauce nonetheless must thicken, boil over low warmth whereas persevering with to stir. Its consistency ought to resemble a thick cream.
- Take away the béchamel pan from the range and stir within the egg yolks, salt, pepper, a pinch of nutmeg and the a lot of the grated cheese. Reserve some cheese to sprinkle on prime! Whisk shortly, as a way to forestall the eggs from turning an omelette! Season with salt to style. Take one spoon filled with béchamel and stir it within the meat sauce. Set the béchamel sauce apart.
- Now it’s time to assemble the moussaka. For this moussaka recipe you’ll need a big baking dish, approx. 20x30cm / 8x12inch and 8cm/3 inch deep). Butter the underside and sides of the pan and layer the potatoes first (when you’re utilizing them), then half the eggplants. Pour in the entire meat sauce and unfold it out evenly. Don’t neglect to take away the cloves and the bay leaf!. Add a second layer of eggplants, prime with the entire béchamel sauce and clean out with a spatula.
- Sprinkle with the remaining grated cheese. Preheat you oven at 180C/350F and bake your musaka for about 60 minutes or till its crust turns gentle golden brown. Though it is going to be actually arduous to take action, it’s best to anticipate the moussaka to calm down and be simply heat to the contact earlier than chopping into items. It will forestall the béchamel sauce from pouring out once you’re chopping your items.
- Serve the Moussaka with a refreshing Conventional Greek Salad and luxuriate in over a glass of wine!
Diet
- Serving Dimension: 1 Piece
- Energy: 455kcal
- Sugar: 11g
- Sodium: 84.6mg
- Fats: 19.1g
- Saturated Fats: 8.2g
- Unsaturated Fats: 9.7g
- Trans Fats: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 61g
- Fiber: 5.3g
- Protein: 14.7g
- Ldl cholesterol: 72.1mg