Moussaka Recipe

Moussa-what?! M-O-U-S-S-A-K-A! Learn to pronounce this dish because we guarantee that you're going to make it over and over again.

It's a fabulous dish found in Greece, Turkey, the Middle East, and the Balkans. It's made much like a lasagna or a casserole and is seriously exploding with rich, hearty, and earthy flavors. It can be made in a variety of ways, some with layers of eggplant, potatoes, beef, and lamb and others with large slices of eggplant topped with minced meat and a bechamel sauce. It is said that the French bechamel sauce wasn't part of the original dish but was added by Greek chef, Nikolas Tselementes, in 1910. However, to this day, it is the bechamel topped Moussaka that Greeks love and is served in restaurants throughout the world

Chef Tara Rylie of RylieCakes breakdowns this moussaka recipe here and finishes it of with a salty, creamy, tangy cheese sauce without the complications of a bechamel!

For this moussaka recipe, you'll start off with your eggplant: eggplant is to moussaka as noodles are to lasagna. You want as close to four pounds of eggplant as you can get — this should be roughly four eggplants. However, if you notice the eggplants look small, best to get one extra! Cut off the tops and bottoms of each eggplant, saving as much of the eggplant as possible. Then, cut each eggplant lengthwise into ¼-inch slices, and place eggplant slices on prepared sheet pans. The eggplant will overlap slightly, and that's totally okay.

In a small bowl, whisk together a half cup olive oil, half of the minced garlic, half of the mint, and one teaspoon of the oregano. Liberally brush the topsides of eggplant with herb oil. Be sure to use all the oil and get all herbs and garlic on the eggplant and not on the pan. After all, it's so good, you don't want any to go to waste! Sprinkle with salt and pepper and bake for approximately forty minutes until golden brown.

While the eggplant is cooking for your moussaka recipe, you'll start your meat sauce by heating remaining two tablespoons of olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add your diced onions, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and sauté until golden brown. When sprinkling with salt and pepper, try to sprinkle from a good height, about one foot above the pan. This will help disperse the salt and pepper.

When onions are ready, push them toward the sides of the pan and coat the center with cooking spray. Place your ground lamb into the center of the pan and start to break it up, eventually stirring in with the onions. Cook lamb until browned and most fat has evaporated, then add all your spices.

While lamb in the most common meat used in moussaka, ground beef is a great substitute.

When adding your whole, peeled tomatoes, be sure to add the entire can for this moussaka recipe. Do not drain the extra juices, as you most definitely want all that flavor in your sauce! Using a spatula, gently break up all the tomatoes into two to four chunks each. It's important to do this gently because the tomatoes sometimes explode a little — just go slow! Stir tomatoes into mixture, and turn heat to low. Simmer your sauce for approximately 30 minutes. The extra juices should mostly absorb into the meat mixture, leaving a thick, meaty sauce.

Assembling this moussaka recipe is simple, but be careful not to eat it all now. It smells so good at this point, you're going to want to eat it before you even bake it! Start by layering half of your eggplant slices onto the bottom of the prepared casserole dish. Then, place half of the lamb mixture on top of the eggplant and spread out it evenly. Repeat this layering step with the remaining eggplant and meat sauce. Just set the dish aside as you quickly whip up your cheese topping.

As mentioned before, a traditional moussaka recipe is typically topped off with a bechamel sauce. However, bechamel sauce can be finicky and really hard to get just right. In order to make this dish easier to whip up and to save some time, we decided to throw together this easy cheese sauce instead. All you have to do is combine the Greek yogurt, ricotta, feta, eggs, and cornstarch together in a medium bowl. Pour the entire mixture over the last layer of lamb sauce, and finish it off by sprinkling Parmesan cheese over top.

Bake this moussaka recipe for approximately forty minutes in a 350 degree Fahrenheit oven until the top is golden brown and parts of it are starting to bubble. If it's been 40 minutes and you'd like your moussaka a little more golden, go ahead and switch your oven from bake to broil. Broil the moussaka on high for two to three minutes until your desired doneness is reached. After removing from the oven, let your moussaka cool slightly before topping with fresh mint and/or parsley (optional). Serve hot and watch in awe as you and your loved ones devour this earthy, rich eggplant masterpiece.