Sauces for moussaka: variations of the classic recipe. Making moussaka sauce

The famous Greek casserole moussaka won the hearts of not only the Greeks, but also gourmets around the world. In fact, in Greek, the word μουσακάς sounds like musakAs - with the accent on the last syllable - this is a masculine noun. But its transformed form has firmly entered and taken root in the Russian language. The word itself, together with the original version of the dish, is Arabic. This is a salad of fried vegetables with spices. From the Arabs, the salad and the word got into the cuisines of the Balkan and Mediterranean peoples with some changes and additions.

The dish was cold (musaqqa means "chilled" in Arabic) until the Greeks intervened in the early twentieth century. Rather, one Greek is Nicholas Tselementes, whom grateful compatriots remember and honor to this day. Being professional chef, Nicholas decided to connect oriental salad with meat, and pour it all over with French bechamel sauce. And it turned out to be a great casserole!

That is why Greek moussaka compares favorably with its counterparts from other cuisines of the world. Its additional feature is that the products are laid out in layers. The classic moussaka recipe necessarily contains eggplant, finely chopped lamb meat and Bechamel sauce. French sauce hardens and acquires during the baking process. golden brown which gives the dish an appetizing look. Greek housewives complete the classics with their special secrets by adding a layer boiled potatoes, or a layer of fried zucchini, or both layers together.

Moussaka in Greek. Classic recipe

How to cook Greek moussaka

Greek moussaka recipe

Dish Main course

Cuisine Greek

Preparation time 1 hour

Cooking time 1 hour

Total time 2 hours

Servings 6 servings

Ingredients

• 2 pcs. - Eggplant medium size
• 1 kg - Minced meat in the original - finely chopped lamb or a mixture of beef with lamb or pork
• 3 pcs. - Tomatoes medium size (or tomato puree- 200 grams)
• 1 PC. - Bulb onions medium size
• 3-4 st. l. - Flour
• 300 g - Hard cheese
• 150 g - Butter
• 600 g - Milk
• 50 g - Olive oil you can refined sunflower
• 1 clove - Garlic
• 100 g - White wine dry (optional)
• to taste - Salt
• to taste - black pepper
• to taste - Marjoram
• to taste - Nutmeg

Instructions

moussaka casserole

Wash the eggplants, cut off the stems and sharp knife cut into slices, about one centimeter thick. Lay them out on a board, salt and let stand until they are covered with moisture - about twenty to thirty minutes. This procedure is necessary so that bitterness comes out of them. While the eggplants are standing, you can put the oven on to heat up to 200 degrees and do the meat filling.

Peel and finely chop the onion. Heat a little olive oil in a frying pan (you can take sunflower oil) and add onion there. When it is browned, put the minced meat in a pan and fry a little. If instead of minced meat you use low-fat, finely chopped lamb with a knife, then you can get as close as possible to the original. Pour boiling water over the tomatoes and remove the skin from them. Then rub them on coarse grater(or take ready-made tomato puree) and add to minced meat with onions. Sometimes the Greeks add some dry white wine, but this is not necessary. Simmer over low heat.

While the meat filling is being prepared, and the eggplants are getting rid of bitterness, you need to prepare the grated cheese. It is useful for bechamel sauce and for the dish itself. Greeks use hard and salty cheese for moussaka - kefalotiri, but you can take any hard cheese like parmesan. Rub it on a coarse grater and divide into three equal parts. The first part will go into the sauce, the second - after the eggplant layer, and the third will come in handy in order to sprinkle the dish on top.

When the minced meat is almost ready, you can add chopped garlic and spices. Nutmeg is added quite a bit, at the tip of a knife, and marjoram - about a quarter of a teaspoon. Salt, pepper lightly and simmer, stirring occasionally until the liquid is completely boiled away.

Remove moisture from the eggplant with a paper towel. You can brush them lightly on both sides. olive oil cooking brush. Then carefully place on a wire rack and put in the oven for 3-5 minutes. You can put eggplants on a baking sheet, having previously laid baking paper, but then bake for no more than 3 minutes, and then turn them over and bake for another 2-3 minutes until lightly blushed. You can fry eggplants in a pan, but then you must definitely blot the excess oil with a paper towel. This process will take a little longer.

Grease a deep baking dish with oil (both olive and cream can be used). If the form is without a non-stick coating, then it is better to sprinkle it breadcrumbs so that the casserole does not burn or stick. Gently lay out the eggplants as the first layer so that the bottom is not visible and sprinkle with grated cheese. Then lay out as a second layer meat stuffing and align. Pour the bechamel sauce over the third layer. Spread it evenly over the entire surface and sprinkle the rest on top. grated cheese. Send to the oven and bake at 180 degrees for 45 minutes.

When done, remove from oven and let cool for 20 minutes. In order for moussaka to be served hot, it takes time for the sauce to thicken a little - otherwise it cannot be cut neatly.

The number of layers can be increased by adding a layer of boiled potatoes, cut into circles and / or fried zucchini, cut in the same way as eggplant. Sometimes zucchini is used instead of eggplant. Every new layer preferably sprinkled with grated cheese.

Notes

Moussaka is served both hot and cold. independent dish. White suits her perfectly. Greek wine Retsina.

Bon appetit! Καλή σας όρεξη!

Greek moussaka with minced meat, eggplant and potatoes step by step with a photo

Moussaka with minced meat - business card mediterranean cuisine. Nobody knows the exact history of this dish, it is prepared in many countries, and there are as many cooking options as there are countries themselves. In Greece, eggplants are added to meat, tomatoes are offered in the Serbian version, and potatoes in Bulgaria. IN Arab countries the dish is served as cold salad with tomatoes and eggplant. By the way, the origin of the word “moussaka” (accent on the last syllable) is Arabic, and it means “chilled”.

I suggest you check out the recipe. Greek moussaka so beloved by all tourists. In Greece, moussaka is also served in inexpensive cafes and luxury restaurants. But to try this delicious casserole it is not at all necessary to go somewhere, the proposed recipe with a photo is as close as possible to the classical Greek and can be easily used at home. For cooking, you need eggplant, some potatoes, minced lamb and traditional filling - Bechamel sauce. And, of course, almost none Greek dish not without cheese and olive oil. Vegetables for casseroles can be pre-fried or baked in the oven - do as you like. In the first version, olive oil is used to lubricate the pan, in the second - vegetables.

Olive oil is true Greek product. Extra virgin oil is the most useful, it contains a lot of fatty acids(oleic, omega 3 and 9), vitamins A, D, E, K. It is believed that such oil is not used for frying, since all the benefits disappear under the influence high temperature. But contrary to popular belief, many Italian, Greek, French chefs fried exclusively on it. There is a way to keep the maximum benefit of olive oil: fry food over low to medium heat. If the oil starts to burn and smoke, the temperature has been exceeded. You can also bake vegetables in the oven - the oil will definitely not burn there, unless, of course, you set a timer.

Greek moussaka remotely resembles Italian lasagna, the recipe of which is . Only instead of the test is used vegetable layer. Initially greek recipe involves only eggplant, but its modern modifications allow the addition of potatoes and zucchini. Greek casserole with eggplant and potatoes is very satisfying and stands out a bit among the low-calorie Mediterranean dishes. According to tradition, it is prepared with minced lamb, but it also comes out quite tasty and juicy with pork and beef. You can even try minced turkey or chicken if you need to reduce the fat content of the dish. What else makes the casserole zest? This is red wine, which is added during the process of stewing meat. And give a special Mediterranean flavor meat dish cinnamon stick and mint. How to cook juicy and tasty moussaka step by step? Sharing the recipe!

Ingredients:

for moussaka:

• 3 eggplants (600-700 g);
• 4 large potato tubers (600-700 g);
• 3 small tomatoes (300 g);
• 1 small onion (300 g);
• 500 g lamb or minced pork and beef;
• 200 g mozzarella;
• 100 ml. red dry wine;
• 2 cloves of garlic;
• salt, pepper to taste;
• cinnamon stick;
• a few mint leaves;
• extra virgin olive oil.

for the bechamel sauce:

• 1 l. milk;
• 100 g butter;
• 3 tbsp flour;
• a pinch of nutmeg;
• 0.5 tsp provencal herbs.

Greek moussaka recipe with eggplant, potatoes, minced meat and bechamel sauce

1. Cut the washed eggplant into circles about half a centimeter thick.

2. Salt and leave for 20-30 minutes, so that the pieces release the juice, with which all the bitterness comes out of the eggplant.

3. Cut the potatoes into circles of about the same thickness as the eggplant.

4. Put the potatoes on a baking sheet covered with baking paper, lightly sprinkle with olive oil and bake for 20 minutes at 200 degrees. It should become soft and brown a little on top.

5. We make cuts on the skin of tomatoes to make it easier to remove it.

6. Pour boiling water over the tomatoes and leave for 5 minutes.

7. Meanwhile, finely chop the onion.

Tip: to stop crying while slicing, chew something or rinse your knife cold water.

8. Put the onion in a pan with heated olive oil and sauté until half cooked.

9. Spread the minced meat to the onion and break it with a spatula, then mix with the onion.

10. You can already peel the skin from the tomatoes. Cut the fruits into small cubes.

11. Minced meat seized, meat juice began to stand out.

12. It's time to add the tomatoes to the minced meat.

13. Pour in red wine.

14. Add spices: mint and cinnamon stick.

15. Add water and simmer over low heat.

16. Wash the eggplant and squeeze the juice, dry paper towels.

17. We also bake eggplants until soft (about 20 minutes), brushing a little olive oil on top.

18. Not a single moussaka is complete without Bechamel sauce. Interestingly, the origin of the fill is not Greek, but French! The preparation of the sauce is described in detail. So, melt half the butter over low heat, pour in the flour and mix immediately. Now in small portions pour in warm milk without stopping stirring. Salt and pepper, mix and cook after boiling for another 2-3 minutes. Now turn off the heat, put the remaining oil and cover the pan with a lid until it is completely dissolved. Bechamel is ready. It will thicken a bit as it cools.

19. Half of the liquid from the pan has evaporated, minced meat remained in the sauce. You can get a cinnamon stick (it has already worked its way), add squeezed garlic, mix and remove the pan from the stove.

20. Rub mozzarella on fine grater.

21. We begin to collect moussaka with potatoes and eggplant. Grease the bottom of the mold with bechamel sauce.

22. Put a layer of eggplant in the form, arrange the circles tightly to each other.

23. Put minced meat on top.

24. Sprinkle with a little cheese.

25. Spread potatoes and cover with sauce.

26. The next layer is minced meat again.

27. And sprinkle with cheese again.

28. Spread the remaining eggplant.

29. Pour all the remaining sauce and mozzarella. We put moussaka with eggplant in a heated oven and bake at 180 degrees for 40 minutes.

30. Moussaka is baked, the cheese is beautifully browned. You can decorate the Greek casserole with a sprig of mint and serve. Bon appetit!

- dish Greek cuisine, which is an eggplant casserole, minced meat and potatoes. This is in short. But the details will be below.

Moussaka is not done quickly, but all efforts are worth it. The dish is very satisfying and at the same time it cannot be called too heavy. Good, tasty, solid food, which is appropriate not only for the usual everyday table. And during your holidays, moussaka will adequately take its place among the dishes that you will treat your guests to.

To make moussaka you will need:

The number of products presented in the photo was just enough to completely fill out the form 25x 18x 6 cm.

• Eggplant. 4 small.
• Potato. 4 medium tubers.
• Chopped meat. 500 gr. You can use any minced meat - lamb, beef, pork or mixed. Here beef and pork 1:1.
• Tomatoes. grams 300-400.
• Onion. 1 bulb.
• Garlic. 2-3 cloves.
• Parsley. 1 bunch.
• Wine. White dry. 100 ml.
• Vegetable oil. Needed for frying. so it's hard to pinpoint the exact number.
• Black freshly ground pepper.
• Cheese. Optional. I don’t specifically indicate which one - here it’s to the taste of the cook. As long as it melts well.

And for the sauce you will need:

• Milk. 500 ml.
• Egg. 2 pcs.
• Flour. 2 tbsp. heaped spoons.
• Butter. 70-100 gr.
• Cheese Parmesan. 50-60gr. Unlike the previous list, where cheese is only an option, in the sauce cheese is a must .
• Salt.

Moussaka is ready.

Once again I would like to warn you - the dish requires sufficient time, effort and attention. If possible, some of the ingredients, such as sauce and minced meat, can be prepared the day before.

Cooking minced meat for moussaka.

Let's start with minced meat. Almost in parallel with the minced meat, you can start cooking the sauce.

Finely chop the onion.

Warm up in a saucepan vegetable oil and sauté the onion over high heat until golden brown. It is best to immediately add a little salt so that the onion fries faster and better.

As the onion is golden, spread the minced meat to the onion and fry everything together, breaking with a spatula large pieces.

Along the way, cut the eggplant into rings about 5 mm thick, sprinkle with salt and put in a colander so that the moisture that appears can drain off.

On the topic of slicing eggplant. IN this dish there is no difference how exactly they are cut, in rings or petals - that is, along or across. In any case, moussaka will be cut in the final portioned pieces, so any beauty for eggplant is not required. The main thing is that the cutting should be uniform in thickness, and the size of each piece is not particularly important.

Finely chop the garlic. It is cut, and not squeezed out with a garlic press.

Minced meat in a saucepan will first give juice, which must be evaporated, stirring the minced meat and breaking large pieces with a spatula. As soon as the meat juice has evaporated and the minced meat has begun to fry, add garlic and salt to it.

Slightly fry everything together. Pour 100 ml of dry white wine into the roasting minced meat, mix and let the wine evaporate.

Chop the tomatoes finely enough. If you really want to, you can remove the skin from them, but I usually do not do this. If good tomatoes no, you can take it ready tomatoes V own juice or trade wind.

Add the tomatoes to the mince.

Stir and reduce the fire.

Parsley leaves are cut off from the stems, the stems are thrown away, and the leaves are finely chopped.

Add the chopped parsley to the minced meat and mix again.

Leave to stew for 30 minutes. The goal is to let the minced meat stew in tomato juice, evaporating along the way maximum amount moisture.

For moussaka, the minced meat must be dry enough.

On this, the preparation of the meat component for moussaka can be considered complete, so let's move on to preparing the sauce, we will just have time to make it, while the minced meat is on small fire comes to readiness.

Making moussaka sauce.

Moussaka is popular dish Greek cooking. A high-calorie and incredibly tasty dish served in every Greek restaurant.

Moussaka is a casserole of vegetables, especially eggplant, and meat with bechamel sauce. The moussaka recipe is known in the cuisine of many countries, but the Greek moussaka is the most delicious.

There are many varieties of eggplant and meat casseroles, and there is always room for your own culinary and taste preferences. After all, a wonderful hat was added to the moussaka in Greek french sauce bechamel - and the taste of the dish just won! With traditional Greek yogurt instead of moussaka sauce, it's just as perfect.

Moussak recipe at home

The recipe includes the main components of Greek moussaka (eggplant, meat, bechamel, cheese) with a little improvisation (no muscat, but there is Sun-dried tomatoes). The classic recipe is at the bottom of the page.

Ingredients

• eggplant - 1 kg
• bow - 2
• minced beef (mutton) - 500 grams
• tomatoes - 3 medium
• sun-dried tomatoes - 4-5 pcs.
• red dry wine- 150 ml
• cheese - 100 grams
• butter - 70 grams
• milk - 1 glass
• flour - 1.5 tbsp. spoons
• spices, salt, pepper, olive oil

How to make moussaka

Eggplant for moussak

The basis of moussaka is eggplant layers, due to which the appetizer keeps its shape when served in portions. To make the serving perfect, take young fruits without ripe seeds. To Peel or Not to Peel Eggplants for Moussaka? IN traditional dish vegetables are used together with the skin, but you can also peel them completely or remove them in strips. When baked, the skin will become soft and practically will not be noticeable in the dish. If you decide to leave, then choose eggplant without dark spots.

How to cut? The shape of the cut does not play a big role - cut along, getting plates, or across into circles. The main thing is that the eggplant pieces fit well into the mold, leaving no empty gaps between them. Keep this in mind when choosing the shape of the cut. The thickness of the pieces is 0.5-1 cm.

Then the eggplant should be thermally processed. How?
They can be blanched, baked in the oven, fried in a pan (grill pan).

If you bake in the oven or fry, put the chopped eggplant in a bowl, add salt and leave for 20 minutes to release the bitterness. Rinse under running water and discuss. Then fry with a small amount oils. It is worth remembering that eggplants draw in a lot of oil during frying, and when they are ready, they give the oil back. Knowing this feature, use a minimum of fat - only to grease the bottom of the pan, and then put the eggplants on a sieve so that the oil drains.

To bake in the oven, brush eggplant slices on both sides with olive oil.

Minced meat for moussaka

Fry minced beef in olive oil. Stir all the time and break up lumps.

Peel and chop the onion. Cut the tomatoes in half and grate the pulp on a coarse grater, discard the skin. Add onions and tomatoes to minced meat.

Stir and continue cooking for 5-7 minutes. Then pour in the wine. Which wine is better? Opinions differ on this, choose to your taste - red, white, or even brandy.

Add spices to minced meat: bay leaf, oregano, allspice, cinnamon, sun-dried tomatoes, lemon peel, chili flakes - to your taste.

Make the fire small and evaporate the liquid, bringing the minced meat to readiness and not forgetting to stir from time to time. Ready stuffing should be dry and the liquid completely evaporated.

bechamel sauce

Prepare the bechamel sauce. Melt the butter in a saucepan and stir in the flour, a whisk will do just fine. Aim for a thick roux (flour and milk base). Set the fire under the saucepan to a minimum. Let the butter and flour almost boil.

Remove the saucepan from the heat and pour in the milk, stirring constantly, in a thin stream. Warm milk slightly before adding.

The sauce will change before your eyes: at first it will be liquid, and after a couple of minutes it will begin to turn into a thick, creamy consistency.

So, base sauce ready, but it can be supplemented with grated cheese or egg yolk, seasoned with nutmeg.

When all the components of the moussaka are ready, you can start assembling. For this purpose, you will need a baking dish with sides.

Assembly and laying out First, form the bottom layer of eggplant, laying the largest pieces tightly together.

Sprinkle with grated cheese.

The next layer consists of minced meat.

Cover the minced meat with a layer of eggplant. If the shape and quantity of products allows, then the stacking can be increased by a couple more layers. Last layer eggplants are sure to go - they are sprinkled with cheese and poured with bechamel sauce.

Sprinkle the top with cheese.

Cover the mold with foil. Bake in preheated oven at 180 degrees for 15 minutes. Then remove the foil and cook for another 15-20 minutes.

Serving moussaka

Moussaka should (if you have enough patience) cool before serving: a little warm or cold, it is perfectly cut into portioned pieces.

Other moussaka recipes What can include moussaka

Vegetables. Some recipes for Greek moussaka include potatoes, which must be prepared in the same way as zucchini (cut and fried or baked). Usually put it in the base of the casserole, to give stability to the multilayer structure. The presence of potatoes does not particularly affect the taste, but high-calorie dish with potatoes it becomes even more satisfying and high in calories.

Ground meat. Classic moussaka recipes use ground lamb or a mixture of ground lamb and ground beef, but if you like pork and beef, then cook with it.

Sauce. For the base of the sauce, you can use not only wheat flour, but also corn (bechamel with cornmeal- this is pure improvisation, and it is very tasty and unusual).

You can make portioned mini moussaka: cut the eggplant in half lengthwise, carefully remove part of the pulp, and blanch the boat in salted water; fry the minced meat with the pulp taken out, slices of tomatoes, chopped onions and seasonings; put the minced meat in the boat, pour the sauce on top (from yogurt or bechamel); fold into a mold, pour some water and bake in the oven.

Classic Greek moussaka recipe

Perhaps you should have started with this moussaka recipe, since it is considered basic. Includes, in addition to eggplant, potatoes. Nutmeg is part of both minced meat and bechamel.

Ingredients

(for 7 people)

• 3 kg potatoes
• 2 kg eggplant
• 1/2 liter olive oil

For minced meat

• 850 grams ground beef
• 1 bulb
• 2 fresh tomatoes
• 2 glasses of water
• salt and pepper
• 2/3 cup olive oil

For the bechamel sauce

• 5-6 tablespoons flour
• 250 grams of butter
• 400 grams of baked milk
• 800 grams of water - to dilute the milk
• 40 grams of grated low-melting hard cheese
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg powder
• 2 tablespoons breadcrumbs

How to make Greek moussaka

1. Peel the potatoes and cut them into long slices 2 cm thick.

2. Wash the eggplants and cut them into slices 2 cm thick. Place the sliced ​​eggplants in the oven for 20 minutes. salt water so that bitterness comes out of them.

3. At medium temperature, fry potatoes on both sides in olive oil, then eggplant.

4. To prepare minced meat, grate 2 tomatoes and finely chop the onion.

5. Fry the onion in a saucepan, add minced meat to it and fry it for 7 minutes.

6. Add grated tomatoes, salt, pepper, nutmeg and pour 2 cups of water.

7. Cook the minced meat for approximately 45 minutes - until all the liquid has evaporated.

8. Once the potatoes, eggplant and minced meat are ready, start filling the baking sheet. Lay a layer of potatoes on the bottom, and a layer of eggplant on top of it. Spread the minced meat over the eggplants. Put another layer of eggplant on top of the minced meat, and again a layer of potatoes on top of the eggplant.

How to cook bechamel with eggs

Dilute baked milk water. Melt in a saucepan over low heat butter. Once the butter has melted, add the flour to the pan - while constantly stirring the mixture. Then add nutmeg to the pan and egg yolks, then - very slowly - pour in the milk.

Add fire. Remove the saucepan from the heat as soon as the mixture boils.

An alternative way to prepare bechamel is to slowly add grated cheese, stir until desired thickness. Then you do not need to sprinkle cheese on top of the casserole.

Pour the prepared béchamel sauce over the top potato layer and sprinkle the grated cheese and breadcrumbs on top.

Preheat the oven and bake at 200 degrees Celsius for approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes, until the crust is browned.

Recipe with potatoes and zucchini

It is generally accepted that the composition of moussak necessarily includes eggplant. But this is not a feature of all cuisines. In Romania and Serbia, tomatoes are used instead of eggplant. And in Bulgaria, the moussaka recipe provides for the formation of layers of potatoes and minced meat.

Recipe Ingredients: eggplant - 4 medium, zucchini - 3 medium, potatoes - 2 medium, Bell pepper- 2, onion - 1, tomato - 4-5, garlic - 2 cloves, tomato paste - 1 tbsp. spoon, Ground beef- 500 g, spices (cumin, nutmeg, salt, pepper, coriander, thyme, oregano), fresh parsley, olive oil, parmesan - 70 g, bread crumbs.

Cooking. Cut the eggplant and zucchini into circles, put in a colander and generously salt. Cover with a lid and press down with a weight to drain the liquid. Leave for 20 minutes. Then fry in olive oil until light brown. Remove excess oil with kitchen paper.

Lightly boil potatoes in uniforms. Peel and cut into circles no more than 5 mm thick. Fry finely chopped onion, chopped peppers (pre-remove the seeds) until soft and slightly brown. Add 1 clove of crushed garlic. Fry ground beef in a pan with butter, seasoning it with spices, pepper and salt.

Do tomato sauce . Peel the tomatoes, cut into small pieces, mix with pasta and 1 clove of garlic. Season to taste and simmer over low heat until thickened.
Mix breadcrumbs with finely chopped parsley, finely grated cheese and spices.

Spread in layers in the form: first - a layer of potatoes, sprinkle with breadcrumbs, then a layer of minced meat, then a layer of eggplant, pour over half the tomato sauce and put the fried onions and peppers, sprinkle with breadcrumbs with herbs and cheese, then a layer of zucchini, pour them with the remaining tomato sauce and sprinkle with cheese.

Bake at 180C for about 30 minutes. Cover with foil for the first 10 minutes. Let cool for 15-20 minutes before serving.

Vegetarian moussaka without eggplant

Moussaka is a terribly high-calorie dish. And at the same time delicious. Those who do not eat meat will love the recipe for a vegetarian casserole. To be exact, this is moussaka without meat, but with eggs and dairy products, that is, moussaka for lacto-ovo-vegetarians.

Recipe Ingredients: carrots - 250 g, celery - 1 root (about 100 g), onions - 2, olive oil, potatoes - 5, green green bean- 500 g, rice - 0.5 cups, eggs - 4, milk - 0.5-0.75 cups.

Making Moussaka for Vegetarians

Finely chop or grate the carrots and celery. Fry in oil until soft with finely chopped onion. Boil in uniforms, peel and grate potatoes on a coarse grater. Boil beans and rice separately. cut beans in small pieces. Lay in layers in a dish, starting with potatoes.

Make a sauce of milk and eggs, salt and add your favorite spices. Can be done and classic bechamel. Pour over the vegetables (shake the mold a little so that the sauce reaches all the layers).
Bake for 20 minutes at 200 degrees. Cut the cooled moussaka into squares or rectangular pieces. Can be served with sour cream.

• — Choice of meat —

  Moussaka is usually made from minced meat lamb. The classic recipe calls for minced meat and meat as young as can be found at a farmer's market. However, even Greek chefs no longer dwell on this rule. Their moussaka with a calf or a combination of several types of meat at once does not lose at all to the traditional one. And one more secret. If you have enough patience, it is better not to grind the meat into minced meat. Textured and voluminous moussaka will make chopped into small pieces meat, previously fried to a golden crust.

• — Sauce controversy —

  Initially, the main thing in moussaka is tomato sauce, which is essentially tomato puree and is added during roasting meat. Without it, it will not turn out quite juicy and fragrant. However, there is another way to add spice to the dish. If you don’t want to look for a special tomato sauce for moussaka, regular tomato paste and any red wine will do. It will nourish the meat with shades of appropriate flavors and kill unnecessary sourness. In addition, it is in this combination that it is best to use traditional bechamel, which will become the final chord of the dish already during baking.

• - The most important ingredient -

  And if moussaka, in principle, can exist without meat and without sauces, there are different variations vegan versions of this dish - it is simply impossible to cook it without eggplant. If your moussaka does not have eggplant, you can safely call it lasagna, shepherd's pie or whatever. But there is one problem with eggplant - often even the most the best fruits give the dish a bitter taste. To prevent this from happening, even before placing the eggplant in the oven, you need to properly salt and leave for a few minutes. Salt will draw out all the bitterness. And one more trick: when you fry eggplants along with vegetables and meat, they absorb all the fat like a sponge. That is why it is better to treat them separately. Namely - put in the oven and bake a little, and only after that put in moussaka.

• - How to connect? —

  Moussaka is just individual ingredients until you seal them with béchamel sauce. This gentle creamy nutmeg touch will be the best unifying beginning of the dish. Retreating from conventional prescription of this sauce, the chefs offer in already ready mix for moussaka drive in two raw eggs and only then pour the ingredients with it. Then he will better fasten the moussaka and make it really whole dish. And if you add grated cheese to the bechamel durum varieties, for example, cheddar, you can count on the formation of a dense golden brown above.

• - Extra Tricks -

  Moussaka should not be eaten immediately after it has been removed from the oven. A separate pleasure is to cut it into regular square pieces. To do this, let it harden a little after the oven and “grab”. And if you follow the present Mediterranean traditions, it is worth adding garlic and oregano at the frying stage. Many people also add cinnamon, but it's worth thinking twice about it, as its taste is too intense.

• — Greek moussaka recipe —

  Ingredients:

  For sauce:
  500 ml milk
  60 g butter
  60 g flour
  1 tsp nutmeg
  2 eggs
  50 hard cheese

  For moussaka:
  4 tbsp olive oil
  3 medium eggplants
  1 bulb
  4 garlic cloves
  1.5 tsp cinnamon
  1 tsp oregano
  500 lamb
  2 tbsp tomato paste
  150 ml red wine
  1 bunch of parsley

  Cooking:

  Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Cut the eggplant into slices of half a centimeter and put in the oven for 25 minutes, brushed with olive oil and laid out on baking paper. While the eggplant is baking, fry the onion until soft, add garlic and cinnamon to it, sprinkle with oregano. Then put the chopped lamb in the pan and fry until a crust is obtained. Add wine and tomato paste and bring to a boil. Once the mixture boils, reduce the heat. Simmer for 40 minutes until the liquid has evaporated. At the end add parsley. While the mixture is cooling, make the béchamel sauce.

  Melt the butter and fry the flour, then slowly add the heated milk, stirring all the time. Cook over low heat until the sauce thickens. Add grated cheese and let it melt. Let the sauce cool and beat in the eggs and nutmeg. Place a third of your eggplant on a baking sheet, and place a third of the meat on top and pour over the sauce. Repeat the layers twice more and bake in the oven for 45 minutes.