Moussaka (Greek Ground Meat and Eggplant Casserole)
Ingredients
- Ingredients
- 2 Eggplant
- salt
- olive oil
- 2 onions
- 500 grams Tomatoes
- 500 grams Ground meat (beef or lamb)
- 250 milliliters dry white wine
- 1 generous pinch sugar
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- freshly ground peppers
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- ½ bunch parsley
- 4 Tbsps Sunflower seed
- 80 grams breadcrumbs
- 80 grams Graviera cheese (or Gruyère)
- 30 grams butter
- 3 Tbsps Pastry flour
- 500 milliliters milk
- Nutmeg (freshly grated)
- 2 tsps lemon juice
- 3 eggs
- 150 grams Feta
Preparation steps
Rinse eggplants and cut lengthwise into approximately 0.5 cm (approximately 1/5 inch) slices. Place in salted water for about 20 minutes, drain and pat dry. Heat 3-4 tablespoons of olive oil in a large nonstick pan, cook eggplant slices until lightly browned on both sides, add more oil if necessary. Drain on paper towels.
Peel onions and dice. Blanch tomatoes in hot water, rinse in cold water and peel, cut into cubes. Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a pan and saute onions. Add ground meat and cook until crumbly. Add tomatoes, white wine, season with salt, sugar, cinnamon and pepper and simmer, covered, for about 5 minutes. Rinse parsley, shake dry and chop finely. Add sunflower seeds and oregano into meat mixture, simmer for another 5 minutes and cool.
Add 2 tablespoons of breadcrumbs and half of gruyere cheese into meat. Heat butter in a saucepan, add flour and cook briefly. Add milk and bring to a boil, cook for 5 minutes, stirring, on low heat. Season with salt, pepper, nutmeg and lemon juice, cool slightly. Whisk 2 eggs add remaining gruyere into the sauce. Butter baking dish and sprinkle with remaining breadcrumbs. Line baking dish with half of eggplant slices, top with ground meat mixture. Spreaad remaining eggplant slices and pour sauce over eggplants. Crumble feta cheese and sprinkle over the dish. Bake in preheated oven at 180°C (approximately 350°) for about 1 hour. Remove from oven and serve.
