Moussaka

Name: Moussaka
Cook time: 2 h
Total time: 2 h
Yield: 4 serving(s)
Ingredients: olive oil; 675 g mutton, minced; 1 large onion, finely chopped; 1/2 garlic clove, crushed; 3 tomatoes; 150 ml white wine; 150 ml water; salt & freshly ground black pepper; parsley, finely chopped; 1 pinch ground nutmeg; 1 medium aubergine; 1 large potato, peeled; 15 g dried breadcrumbs; 15 g butter; 15 g flour; 1 bay leaf; 290 ml milk; 1 egg yolk; 15 ml cream; 55 g cheddar cheese, grated

Submitted by McCarthy

"Recipe from Leith's Cookery Bible - Note: Many chefs insist that the custard top and the inclusion of potato make this dish not a true moussaka. But moussaka, in its native Greece usually contain both, and the Greeks have as many variatons on moussaka as we have on apple pie"

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Ready In:: 2hrs
Ingredients:: 20
Serves:: 4

ingredients

olive oil
675 g mutton, minced
1 large onion, finely chopped
¹⁄₂ garlic clove, crushed
3 tomatoes
150 ml white wine
150 ml water
salt & freshly ground black pepper
parsley, finely chopped
1 pinch ground nutmeg
1 medium aubergine
1 large potato, peeled
15 g dried breadcrumbs
15 g butter
15 g flour
1 bay leaf
290 ml milk
1 egg yolk
15 ml cream
55 g cheddar cheese, grated

directions

Heat a little olive oil in a large saucepan and brown the meat in it. Tip off any ecess fat. Put the meat into a bowl.
Add the onions and garlic to the pan. Cook, stirring for 5 minutes. Return the meat to the pan.
Dip the tomatoes in boiling water for 10 seconds, skin, chop and add to the meat.
Add the wine, water, salt, pepper, parsley and nutmeg and cook over a gentle heat, stirring often, until most of the liquid has evaporated. This will take 30 minutes.
Heat the oven to 170C/325F/gas mark 3. Cut the aubergine in thin slices, salt lightly and leave for aboub 30 minutes for some of the juice to drain out. Rince and dry well on a cloth. Cook the potato in boiling salted water until just tender. Cool and slice.
Heat a little more oil in a frying pan and fry each slice of aubergine on both sides until well browned but not burnt.
Put them in the bottom of a large casserole. sprinkle on the breadcrumbs.
Now tip in half the meat mixure. Put half the sliced potato in next, seasoning with salt and pepper, then the rest of the meat, and then the rest of the potato.
Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in the flour, add the bay leaf, then the milk and stir constantly while bringing slowly to the boil. Season with salt and pepper and leave simmering while you mix the egg yolks and cream in a bowl.
Pour the sauce on to the yolks and cream, stirring all the time. Add half the cheese.
Pour the sauce over the dish. Sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top.
Put the dish into the oven and test after 1 hour with a skewer, the whole mass should be soft. The top should be browned too, but it not, burnt.
finish the browning under the grill.