Mama Lyd Sourdough

Greek Moussaka! Moussaka is a traditional greek eggplant casserole made with eggplants that have been fried (or baked) a potatoes, a tomato  beef or lamb mince sauce and topped off with a creamy Béchamel sauce. Ive heard it is one of the best comfort foods.

Though this dish may not be on my top of favs, I think it’s still worth trying. And I may try it again, but without cinnamon and allspice. I think those spices threw me off and from comments that I got, some people in parts of Greece also leave them out. So i’ll try it again!

Traditionally this dish is made with lamb, but it’s just as good with beef! I used beef because if i’m being honest, i’m scared to cook with lamb.. and i’m not entirely sure where to find it! Maybe one day I will try it.

Eggplant? Potatoes? Zucchini?

Eggplant or eggplant and potato is the most traditional, but subbing just potatoes or adding in zucchini is great too! Make it your own. I think most do potatoes and eggplant. I had an eggplant that was mushy, so since I saw zucchini was used as well, I subbed some eggplant for that!

What is Bechamel sauce? also known as white sauce. It is made from a white roux (butter and flour) and milk. This sauce also includes cheese, specifically Pecorino Romano. But I think you can use Romano or parmesan. Again, just make it to your liking! Just like everyone has their own way to make lasagna, this is very similar! Everyone makes it different.

The Greek version, besamel (pronounced beh-sah-MEL) includes the addition of egg yolks, which gives the traditionally white sauce a light yellow color. And we use egg in this recipe.

First we start by frying all of our veggies. Slice them into 1 inch slices and fry them in olive oil. you can also bake them or air fry with a spray of olive oil for a healthier version! I air fried some of the potatoes to speed up time.

Once those are done, set them to the side and chop up your onion and garlic.

we are going sauté them then add the ground meat! Cook it until it’s browned.

Next we add in a bunch of other ingredients. bouillon, tomato paste, seasonings, crushed tomatoes ( I made mine with 4 roma tomatoes, boiled, peeled and crushed), along with bay leaves and a cinnamon stick which you can leave out if you prefer savory dishes without cinnamon.

You’ll cook this down until most of the liquid has evaporated! this took about 30 minutes.

While this is cooking down we can start on the béchamel sauce.

Make your roux by melting the butter and adding flour and cooking for a couple minutes. then add the milk slowly until it’s all used and the sauce becomes thick. season with white pepper and nutmeg (if you like nutmeg) and then stir in your cheese.

Once it’s melted and smooth, take it off the heat and add the egg yolks and stir fast and well.

Add a small ladle of this to the meat sauce. it will help bind it all together,

Now everything is done and we can start layering!

I started with a small amount of meat sauce

Then I added the air fried potatoes, salt pepper and cheese on top!

I repeated with the eggplant

Then with the zucchini!

Now, layer on your meat sauce and spread it evenly.

And then pour all the Béchamel sauce over top!

We bake this at 350f degrees for 45 minutes.

I broiled for 5 mintes to get the top crispy.

its VERY IMPORTANT to allow this to sit for ATLEAST 10-15 minutes but best results 20-30 minutes for everything to set otherwise it will be mushy and runny,

Enjoy!

Check out what else I did for Greece! I made Pita bread, tzatziki, and a delicious desert called Galaktoboureko. You definitely want to make it!!

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Check out some of the other food i’ve made from different countries!

I hope you enjoy this recipe!

Recipe creds: @nutrientmatters + @nikolopaa on TikTok