Recipe brought straight to you from the Ottoman Empire. Yup, moussaka has been around for that long. Now its usually associated with Greek and Mediterranean cuisine, but even the oldies knew what good food tasted like.
My mom and I recently went on a gluten free, sugar free cleanse and we've been desperately craving something aside from our usual salads and salmon. While salivating over pictures of lasagna, I stumbled across this recipe for moussaka - a dish very similar to pastitsio, which we had made before. While pastitsio has a noodle layer on top of the meat and altogether skips the vegetables, moussaka takes a healthier spin. The roasted vegetables add a smoky, sunny flavor, and the rich bechamel tastes like its made with tons of cream and butter (but its not!).
Although summer has yet to end and its 90 degrees out, I'm still devoted to my oven. I find that all dinners made in that massive heat block are easier, quicker, and more satisfying. I mean, all you gotta do is throw together a couple of ingredients, bake it, and dig in! Usually though, oven dinners require pounds and pounds of cheese to even taste remotely palatable, but I promise you this bechamel sauce will make you turn away from cheese and never look back. The texture is quite similar to a gooey custard and the taste is enhanced with subtle notes of nutmeg. And ugh the best part is when the juices of the meat soak into the vegetables and just tie everything together.
This recipe is definitely a keeper. Throw together a quick spanakopita and you got yourselves a colorful dinner.
My mom and I recently went on a gluten free, sugar free cleanse and we've been desperately craving something aside from our usual salads and salmon. While salivating over pictures of lasagna, I stumbled across this recipe for moussaka - a dish very similar to pastitsio, which we had made before. While pastitsio has a noodle layer on top of the meat and altogether skips the vegetables, moussaka takes a healthier spin. The roasted vegetables add a smoky, sunny flavor, and the rich bechamel tastes like its made with tons of cream and butter (but its not!).
Although summer has yet to end and its 90 degrees out, I'm still devoted to my oven. I find that all dinners made in that massive heat block are easier, quicker, and more satisfying. I mean, all you gotta do is throw together a couple of ingredients, bake it, and dig in! Usually though, oven dinners require pounds and pounds of cheese to even taste remotely palatable, but I promise you this bechamel sauce will make you turn away from cheese and never look back. The texture is quite similar to a gooey custard and the taste is enhanced with subtle notes of nutmeg. And ugh the best part is when the juices of the meat soak into the vegetables and just tie everything together.
This recipe is definitely a keeper. Throw together a quick spanakopita and you got yourselves a colorful dinner.
serves 5-6 Ingredients: For vegetable base 2 eggplants 1 zucchini salt pepper olive oil For meat sauce 1 28 oz can tomato puree (or make your own!) 1 lb grass-fed organic lean beef/turkey 1/2 tsp nutmeg 1 tsp cinnamon 4 cloves garlic 1 onion salt and pepper to taste For bechamel 10 tbsps rice flour ( + more if needed) 3 tbsp butter 4 cups milk (regular/soy/rice) cornstarch if needed salt and pepper nutmeg | |
To prepare:
For vegetable base
For vegetable base
- Wash and cut zucchini and eggplant into 1/4 inch thick rounds
- Salt thoroughly (don't be shy with this!) and let the vegetables sit in a colander.
- Place a heavy bowl on top of the vegetables so that the water in the zucchini and eggplant is pressed out.
- Once a decent amount of water has left the vegetables, get a large (13x8) baking pan ready.
- Alternating between zucchini and eggplant, arrange the vegetables like Remy arranged his signature ratatouille (you know what I'm talking about).
- Drizzle generously with olive oil and sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper.
- Roast vegetables at 400 degrees celsius for 20-30 minutes.
For meat sauce
- Dice the onion and cook in a little oil on high heat for 3 minutes.
- Chop and add garlic. Turn the heat down to medium, cooking until onions are tender.
- Add the ground beef, turn up the heat to high, and brown the meet for about 15 minutes. Drain fat if necessary.
- Add the can of tomato puree, turn the heat to low, and cover the pot. Let the meat simmer in the tomato puree, stirring occasionally, for 40-45 minutes.
- Add salt, pepper, nutmeg, and cinnamon to taste.
For bechamel
- Put 3 tbsp butter in a large saucepan and allow to melt on medium heat.
- Add 10 tbsp flour to the butter and cook for about a minute.
- Add about 2 tbsp milk to the mixture and keep cooking, stirring rapidly.
- Slowly add in 1 cup of milk, stirring well throughout the entire process.
- Add the rest of the milk, stirring constantly so the flour doesn't burn in the bottom of the pan. Whisking also prevents the formation of clumps (the death of a bechamel sauce).
- If the sauce isn't thickening, you can cheat and mix a teaspoon of cornstarch with a little bit of the warmed sauce from the pot in a separate bowl. Once the mixture in the bowl is clump free, add it to the sauce and continue stirring. Keep repeating this process as needed (or replace the cornstarch with more flour) until the bechamel is nice and thick.
- Season with salt and ground black pepper. Add a teaspoon or two of nutmeg to enhance the flavor
For assembly
- On the baking pan already laden with roast vegetables, pour the meat sauce evenly across.
- Distribute the bechamel over that and transfer to a 400 degrees celsius oven
- Cook the moussaka for about 45 minutes and serve warm.