Dinner · 90 min · greek

Moussaka

This is the kind of Greek dinner you’ll make on repeat — eggplant and ground lamb, 90 minutes, big payoff.

✓ USDA-verified nutrition data

Ingredients

• 2 large Eggplant
• 1.5 lb Ground lamb
• 1 lb Yukon gold potatoes
• 6 tbsp Unsalted butter
• 6 tbsp All-purpose flour
• 3 cups Whole milk
• 2 Eggs
• 1 cup Grated kefalotyri
• 1 large Yellow onion
• 14.5 oz Canned crushed tomatoes
• 1 tsp Ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp Nutmeg
• 1/4 cup Olive oil
• 2 tsp Salt

Steps

1. Slice the eggplant into 1/2-inch rounds and salt them generously — rest 30 minutes so the salt pulls out the bitterness and the moisture that makes eggplant spongy. Pat them bone-dry before they touch oil.
2. Pan-fry the eggplant in batches in hot olive oil until deeply golden on both sides; it drinks oil like a sponge, so keep the heat assertive and the slices in a single layer. Drain on a rack, not paper, so they stay crisp.
3. Brown the lamb in the same pan with the diced onion, breaking it into fine crumbles — small pieces soak up the cinnamon and tomato better than big chunks. Stir in the tomatoes and cinnamon; simmer 15 minutes until thick enough to mound on a spoon.
4. Whisk the butter and flour into a pale roux, then pour in warm milk while whisking hard — warm milk, not cold, is what keeps béchamel lump-free. Simmer until it coats the back of a spoon. Off the heat, beat in the eggs, nutmeg, and half the cheese.
5. Layer half the sliced potatoes, then all the eggplant, then the lamb, then the remaining potatoes, finishing with a thick blanket of béchamel. Every layer gets a pinch of salt.
6. Bake at 375°F for 45 minutes until the top is burnished gold with dark freckles. The freckles are flavor — do not pull it pale.
7. Rest a full 20 minutes before cutting; the layers set as it cools and the slices hold instead of slumping.

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