Musaka or Greek moussaka

How to prepare a Greek moussaka .

I present you one of the most famous recipes of Greek cuisine,  the moussaka or Greek moussaka .

This is a dish that we usually associate with Italian lasagna , although basically it has nothing to do with it.

Perhaps because of the similarity of overlapping layers and béchamel until we have a delicious meat and vegetable pie .

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The one I have prepared is made with minced beef and aubergines but the original Greek recipe is with minced lamb. The rest of the ingredients are aubergines, tomatoes, onions and a little garlic.

All very Mediterranean and easy to get in any market. For those who want to make it vegetarian, they only have to substitute the meat for more vegetables such as mushrooms. You can also use a layer of cooked potato or zucchini.

After a little information about this ingredient, I encourage you to prepare this and other Greek, salty and sweet recipes that you can find on the blog.

Greek Hummus or Chickpea Cream , Pseftokefedes or Greek Tomato Meatballs , Galaktoboureko or Greek Milk Cake, Baklavas and these strawberries with Greek caramel yogurt .

Eggplants and tomato. Before starting to cook

1. We start with the aubergines, the most important part, which act as the pasta plate to make lasagna.
2. We cut them into slices about 6-8 mm thick. If you cut them too thin at the end they end up breaking, also later they lose thickness when we fry them.
3. We put them in an elongated container (it can be the one that we are going to use to later make the musaka) and we add salt in abundance.
4. We let it rest for about 40 minutes so that they release part of their water and that they are not so bitter.
5. We pass the slices in cold water and drain them very well helped by absorbent paper.
6. In a frying pan add extra virgin olive oil and when it begins to heat up add the eggplants.
7. Fry until golden brown. We move to a plate with absorbent paper to remove the excess oil.
8. It is important that when we fry them there is not too much oil in the pan because then they will be very hard and we are not interested. We set aside until the final assembly.
9. We blanch the tomatoes and once skinless we chop them into large pieces.
10. Cut the 2 onions and the garlic cloves as thin as possible. We season the meat. We separate the ingredients each on a plate.

Preparation of the Greek musaka

1. In another saucepan we pour oil (3 tablespoons arrive) and introduce the onions and garlic.
2. We poach everything very well and add the minced meat to the casserole (as I mentioned above it would be better with lamb, but I did not find it minced).
3. Add a little mint, chopped parsley and a tablespoon of ground cinnamon.
4. Fry for 5 minutes over low heat, stirring constantly.
5. Add the tomato and a splash of white wine, let everything reduce until you have a compact sauce. About 15 minutes.
6. While we prepare the bechamel (it is very easy, you just have to go to the bechamel recipe that we have on the blog, click on the word bechamel) we are preheating the oven to about 180º C so that it is hot when we put the refractory source.

Baking and final presentation of moussaka

1. To assemble the moussaka the thing is very simple. Grease the bottom of the dish with a little of the oil left over from frying the eggplant and a layer of eggplant slices.
2. We preheat the oven to 180º C about 10 minutes before baking the musaka.
3. On top a layer of the mixture with the meat, the next one of béchamel sauce and repeat until you have 2 floors. Finally we finish with bechamel (quite a lot). And the last layer of grated cheese to gratin.
4. We put in the oven in the middle tray about 20 minutes at 180º C and 5 minutes with the gratin set so that it browns.
5. The first 20 minutes with temperature above, below and air. The last 5 minutes only with the gratin so that it is crispy.
6. Garnish with a little oregano and a piece of feta cheese. In this case I have presented it in a clay dish (the same one I use for scallops) but it can go directly to the plate.
7. There you have it, serve it warm. I assure you that it arrives for 6 people generously.

You can see all the photos of the step by step in the  Greek musaka recipe . Do not miss any detail and they will be perfect.

Curiosities and tips for a yummy musaka

• Accompany it with a fruity white wine, very fresh, a Greek wine of retsina, very cold, would not go bad.
• If you want, you can prepare this mousaka recipe in advance, keeping it in the fridge and cooking it the next day.
• It can even be frozen just like lasagna . Enjoy one of the most famous recipes of Greek cuisine.
• The origin of the eggplant is located in several very ancient writings in India, in fact, the cultivation of this vegetable is ancient in regions of the East.
• It was introduced in Europe in the Middle Ages and like many of the ingredients we have in Spain. It was introduced by the Arabs in the Iberian Peninsula, although in principle not for consumption but as an exotic decoration for gardens, later the famous dishes such as the baba ganoush or cream of eggplant  or  the maqluba or Arab paella would come .
• Although you can find many types, the most common is the most beautiful, a dark violet color, well it seems beautiful to me.
• In Spain we have a very famous variety in the Calatrava region (Ciudad Real), the famous  “Almagro Eggplant “, these are made pickles and last a long time, Andalusian heritage, how much we have to thank the Arabs.
• Here I leave you with another recipe with the tricks that Gilma Veroni tells me has lived in Athens for several years and completes the recipe with the following suggestion:

“ The typical way to use minced meat is to mix beef and pork. In the absence of Greek cheese ‘kefalotiri’ which is typical, the gruyere is good for gratin.  Then 25 minutes in the oven just to brown it is not enough. It is better to put it in the oven at the same 180 ° C for at least 45 minutes. But with the hot air function so all the flavors melt. ”