moussaka

Moussaka (video link coming)

There’s 4 parts to making a good moussaka:

1. Fried eggplant that isn’t bitter
2. Fried potato base
3. Awesome meat sauce
4. Bechamel topping

I used 3 eggplants in the live stream, and that would have been perfect for a 9×13 casserole dish, but I wanted to make a smaller keto moussaka for myself, so the whole thing only had 1 layer of eggplant. It works just fine, but traditional moussaka has 2 layers of eggplant.

 

Step 1 – prepare the eggplant.
Cut off both ends, and the next 2 steps are pretty controversial, so brace for drama.
I cut away about half the skin. This will reduce the intensity of the flavour, but also reduce the bitterness even more.
I cut the eggplant into disks, instead of lengthwise (1/4″ or so in thickness. I usually go with 1/2″)

I know, it’s all very shocking.

In a large bowl, stir 1/2 cup of salt into 8 cups of warm water. Put the eggplant disks in the saltwater brine, and let it sit for 30 minutes. This is a great time to switch to work on the potatoes, but I’ll include the rest of the eggplant instructions here.

Rinse the eggplant disks, and place a layer on paper towel, cover with a layer of paper towel, and repeat – we want to soak up excess water before we fry them.

Here’s where you should skip to step 2, then do the frying after the meat sauce is set to simmer for 30 minutes.

 

Step 2 – prepare the meat sauce

Here’s another dramatic twist – I didn’t fry the onions and garlic before adding the meat. While this is technically wrong, I was concerned about juggling too many things during the stream, so I just started off browning the meat on medium heat in a few tablespoons of oil. After the meat was browned, I added the onions, garlic, let it cook for another 5 minutes, then added the rest of the ingredients for the meat sauce.
PRO TIP – Make a note of how many bay leaves you use. This is a fantastic reason to just use one large leaf.
Keep stirring the meat because you don’t want it to stick to the bottom of the pan.

There’s some debate about draining the oil from the meat before you add any ingredients, and some of the old-timers insist on boiling the ground beef in water, draining the water, and then browning it in a few tablespoons of oil. This step is really good idea, depending on the ground beef in your area, and how fatty the meat is. I’m going to demonstrate this at some point, hopefully when I have mom in the kitchen for a cook-off.

After all the ingredients are in the pot, bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, cover, and let it cook for 30 minutes. Check it regularly and give it a stir to make sure nothing’s sticking to the bottom, or burning.
Remove the lid and let simmer for another 10 minutes, or until all the liquid is boiled off/absorbed into the meat.
Remove the bay leaves when it’s done cooking.
Some recipes call for adding 1-2 beaten eggs after the meat sauce has cooled, but I don’t think it’s necessary.

 

Step 3 – prepare the potatoes

Finish step 1 – Fry the eggplant disks in neutral oil on medium heat until golden brown on both sides. Put the fried eggplant on more paper towel to help soak up the oil. Cover the eggplant with even more paper towel, and keep stacking it up until all the eggplant is covered.

I used about 3 pounds of potatoes in the video. Peel the potatoes, cut into 1/4″ thick slices and pan fry them in a neutral oil on medium heat until golden brown on both sides. Place the fried potatoes on paper towel, cover with even more paper towel, and keep stacking it up until all the potatoes are covered.  I sprinkled some salt on the potatoes at this point in the video just because I was concerned I would forget, but you should do it while you’re assembling the moussaka.

 

Step 4 – prepare the bechamel sauce

The only thing that’s remotely tricky about this part is the constant whisking, and I mean constant.
Start with melting the butter in a saucepan, add the flour, and start whisking.
Once the flour has absorbed all the butter, and you don’t see any clumps, add the salt, pre-heated milk (this is the traditional method, but I melted the butter in the milk first, then added the flour – it takes longer but less messy), and keep whisking.
Add the parmesan cheese, and keep whisking. You can save adding the nutmeg for the final step, but I don’t mind adding it with the parmesan. The sauce should be around the consistency of very creamy mashed potatoes.
Remove from heat, add the egg yolks, and keep whisking. Did I mention constant whisking? I wasn’t kidding.
Don’t stop whisking for another 4 minutes; you want the egg yolks to make the sauce super creamy, we’re not making scrambled eggs.
In the video, I thought the clumps were from the flour, but it was the parmesan cheese that didn’t melt. I had traditional bechamel on the mind, and I managed to forget that I’d added a bunch of parmesan cheese to the sauce – whoopsie!

 

Step 5 – put it all together

Preheat your oven to 350F

• Lightly grease your 9×13″ casserole dish.
• Cover the bottom with all the potatoes.
• Cover the potatoes with a layer of eggplant.
• Cover the eggplant with a layer of meatsauce – some people like to add a few tablespoons of the bechamel to the meatsauce to help keep it together, and this will help keep the oils of the meatsauce in place.
• If you have enough eggplant, put a layer above the meatsauce.
• Cover everything with all the bechamel – hopefully you have a full 1″ thick layer, but as long as it’s covered, you’re good.
• Sprinkle a thin layer of parmesan cheese.

Pop it into the oven, uncovered, and start watching it after 20 minutes. The dish is already cooked, but we want the flavours to combine, and we want the parmesan on top to turn golden brown. This should happen by 30 minutes, and you can always broil the top for a few minutes, but I recommend letting this happen at 350F.

 

Here are the ingredients:

A bunch of oil for frying.
3 eggplants
3 pounds of potatoes
1 pound ground beef
1 large onion, finely chopped
6 cloves of minced garlic
4 tbsp tomato paste
16 oz can crushed tomatoes (or more)
2 tsp oregano
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 large bay leaves
1/4 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp parsley
1/2 cup red wine vinegar or 1 cup red wine.

1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup flour
1 tsp salt
4 cups milk
2 egg yolks (not traditional bechamel)
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg (maybe 3/4 tsp if it’s not freshly ground)
1/2 cup parmesan cheese + another 1/4 cup (or more) to sprinkle on top.

Normally, there’s about an inch of bechamel on top, but I had to make due with the available pan, and I didn’t feel like  making a gallon of sauce.

 

Note – I made a mini keto moussaka by skipping the potatoes, and making this version of the bechamel sauce:
1 cup heavy whipping cream
4 oz cream cheese
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
The cream cheese pooled around the edge of the casserole dish, but the finished product was still excellent.
Next time I do the keto version, I’m going to let the bechamel cool to room temperature before assembling the moussaka.