What do you do when your son comes to pay a visit, who just happens to be a chef in a Michelin Starred restaurant? You get him to make you dinner, that’s what you do. So he made a Moussaka for us inspired by a Rick Stein programme filmed in Greece where a lady made a moussaka for Rick, with a few twists of his own.

Ingredients

• 500 grammes of lamb mince
• 4 red onions
• Two cloves of garlic
• Dried oregano
• Dried cinnamon powder
• Tin of chopped tomatoes
• Vegetable and lamb stock cubes
• Tomato puree
• 70 grammes of plain flour
• Two aubergines
• Two courgettes
• 500 mills of milk
• Splash of wine
• Two baking potatoes
• Dried nutmeg
• Parmesan cheese for topping

Method

After peeling and slicing the potatoes and red onions, layer the potatoes and one onion’s worth in a ovenpoof dish, drizzle with olive oil and salt and pepper.

Whilst this is in the oven, turn your attention to making the lamb ragu. Start by browning off your mince, put to the side, sweat off your onions and your roughly chopped garlic. Then add two tablespoons of dried organo and cinammon powder with one good squirt of tomato puree.

 

Return your mince to the pot and add the white wine. Reduce this mixture down by two thirds.

Once done, add tin of chopped tomatoes and fill the empty can with tap water, crush and sprinkle in your stock cubes then add to mixture and leave to cook on a medium to low heat until the sauce has reduced and thickened.

Thinly slice your courgettes and aubergines, place in a bowl and season generously with olive oil and salt and pepper, heat a griddle pan up to a high temperature then grill your vegetables to get a char grill on them.

 

Once grilled, place on a plate covered with tin foil to allow to steam.

Weigh out equal parts, butter and flour (70 grammes), melt butter in the pan, add flour to make a roux. Slowly add in your milk until the mixture becomes a creamy conistency.

To layer the moussaka, place the cooked layer of potatoes and onions on the bottom, add one layer of ragu, cover in your grilled vegetables, another layer of ragu, with another layer of vegetables and then add your creamy Béchamel sauce to the top.  Add a sprinkling of Paremesan on top and put in the oven at 185ºC for 30 minutes until golden brown on top.  Leave to rest for ten minutes before serving.

There you have it, I’m not biased but this was the best moussaka that I have tasted, there are different techniques used in this recipe, but it isn’t difficult and the end result is worth the extra effort!

Take a look at the YouTube video below – which shows the different stages of the moussaka!

Thank you for watching!