Moussaka
Baked Aubergine, Mince and Béchamel
Moussaka is three dishes cooked separately and then baked as one: fried vegetables, a meat sauce warm with cinnamon, and a béchamel thick enough to stand up when cut. It takes an afternoon. It also feeds eight, tastes better lukewarm than hot, and is better again the next day.
The chef's recipe read here layers fried potato, aubergine and courgette under 500 g of mince cooked with onion, garlic, thyme, cinnamon, cloves and tomato, and tops it with a béchamel enriched with cheese and three egg yolks, baked at 180°C for 35 to 40 minutes.
Ingredients
For the vegetables
- 3 medium potatoes (about 500 g), peeled, in 5 mm slices
- 2 large aubergines (about 600 g), in 1 cm slices
- 2 courgettes (about 400 g), in 1 cm slices
- Olive oil, to fry
- Fine sea salt
For the meat sauce
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 500 g beef mince
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- A pinch of ground cloves
- 1 tbsp tomato purée
- 400 g tin chopped tomatoes
- Salt and black pepper
For the béchamel
- 100 g butter
- 100 g plain flour
- 750 ml whole milk
- A grating of nutmeg
- 150 g Parmesan or kefalotyri, finely grated
- 3 medium egg yolks
Method
- Fry the vegetables Salt the aubergine slices and leave them in a colander for 20 minutes, then pat dry. Heat 1 cm of olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium-high heat. Fry the potatoes, then the aubergines, then the courgettes, in batches, for 2 to 4 minutes a side until golden and soft. Drain each batch well on kitchen paper.
- Make the meat sauce Heat the oil in a wide saucepan and soften the onion for 5 minutes. Add the garlic, then the mince, breaking it up, and cook over a high heat until browned with no pink left. Stir in the thyme, cinnamon, cloves and tomato purée, then the tomatoes. Season and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, until thick and almost dry.
- Make the béchamel Melt the butter in a saucepan, stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute. Add the milk a little at a time, whisking, and simmer for 3 to 4 minutes until thick and smooth. Take off the heat, season with salt, pepper and nutmeg, and whisk in 100 g of the cheese. Leave for 5 minutes, then whisk in the egg yolks.
- Layer Heat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan). Cover the base of the dish with the potatoes, then a layer of aubergines, then the courgettes, seasoning lightly as you go. Spread the meat sauce over the top and pour on the béchamel. Smooth it and scatter with the remaining cheese.
- Bake and rest Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until the top is deep golden and the dish is piping hot in the middle. Leave to stand for at least 30 minutes before cutting, or the layers will slide apart.
The meat sauce must be thick. A wet sauce makes a moussaka that collapses.
It cuts cleanly only once it has cooled a little. Greeks eat it warm, not hot.