Traditional Greek moussaka: the eggplant lasagna with ground meat and baked béchamel

Moussaka as the world knows it is less than a hundred years old. The dish of eggplant with meat exists throughout the eastern Mediterranean, from the Levant to the Balkans, but it was the chef Nikolaos Tselementes, in the 1920s, who covered it all with a French-style béchamel and created the baked version that became Greece's calling card.

Tselementes wanted to Frenchify Greek cooking, and at the same time managed to give it one of its most popular dishes. The cinnamon and allspice in the meat, however, are an Ottoman legacy and never left: they are what makes moussaka taste like moussaka.

It is a laborious dish, with three preparations that come together in the oven, but it yields a big tray, is better the next day and is the centerpiece of any Greek Sunday lunch.

Recipe card

• Origin: Greece
• Category: Main course, baked gratin
• Difficulty: Medium
• Preparation time: 50 minutes
• Oven time: 1 hour
• Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients — eggplant and meat

• 3 large eggplants in 1 cm lengthwise slices
• 2 large potatoes in thin slices (optional, for the base)
• Olive oil for brushing
• 700 g ground lamb or beef
• 2 onions, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 can chopped peeled tomatoes (400 g)
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/4 cup chopped parsley
• Salt and black pepper to taste

Ingredients — béchamel

• 100 g butter
• 100 g all-purpose flour
• 1 liter warm milk
• 2 egg yolks
• 100 g grated parmesan or kefalotyri
• 1 pinch nutmeg
• Salt to taste

Method

1. Sprinkle the eggplant slices with salt and leave in a colander for 30 minutes. Rinse, dry, brush with olive oil and roast at 220 °C (430 °F) for 20 minutes, turning halfway, until golden. Do the same with the potatoes.
2. Sauté the onion in 3 tablespoons of olive oil until soft, add the garlic and the meat and cook over high heat until browned and the liquid has evaporated.
3. Add the wine and let it evaporate. Add the tomato, tomato paste, cinnamon, allspice, oregano, salt and pepper and cook for 25 minutes, until the sauce is thick. Finish with the parsley.
4. For the béchamel, melt the butter, add the flour and cook for 2 minutes, stirring. Add the milk little by little, whisking, and cook until well thickened.
5. Off the heat, mix in the yolks, half of the cheese, the nutmeg and the salt.
6. In a deep dish (about 25 x 35 cm), assemble: potatoes at the bottom, half of the eggplant, all of the meat, the rest of the eggplant.
7. Cover with the béchamel, smooth, sprinkle the remaining cheese and bake at 180 °C (350 °F) for 45 to 60 minutes, until golden.
8. Let rest 20 minutes before cutting, so the slices come out whole.

Tips and variations

• Roasting the eggplant instead of frying makes the dish lighter and less oily.
• The béchamel layer should be generous, about 2 cm: it is the signature of moussaka.
• Zucchini can replace part of the eggplant.
• Vegetarian version: swap the meat for cooked lentils and sautéed mushrooms with the same seasonings.
• Moussaka is better cold and reheated the next day: the layers firm up.
• Freezes well in portions, already baked.
• Serve with Greek salad (tomato, cucumber, onion, olives and feta) and bread.

A slice of moussaka with the golden béchamel on top and the perfume of cinnamon is all of Greece on a plate. Worth every minute of preparation.