Easy and Succulent Greek Moussaka Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 large eggplants
• 4 potatoes
• 400 g ground beef
• 1 can of crushed tomatoes + 1 small can of tomato coulis
• 1 large onion
• Olive oil
• A small teaspoon of cinnamon
• A tablespoon of honey
• Nutmeg
• Salt pepper
• For the béchamel
• 20g butter
• 3 level tablespoons of flour
• 35 cl of milk
• 100 g grated Gruyère cheese

Preparation

1. Preparation of the tomato sauce:   Slice the onions and brown them in a frying pan. Add the can of crushed tomatoes and 2 good tablespoons of olive oil, cinnamon, honey, salt, pepper, and let everything reduce for 25 minutes over medium heat.
2. We should obtain a sauce, which can be homogenized with 1 small can of ready-made tomato coulis.
3. While the sauce is simmering…Preparing the eggplants, cut the eggplants into slices (without peeling them), salt generously, and let them disgorge while you make the potatoes (Tip for disgorging the eggplants: in a dish, alternate
   one layer of salted eggplant slices and a layer of absorbent paper or leave them in a colander.)
4. Preparation of potatoes:   Peel your potatoes and precook them for 5 to 10 minutes in a pan of boiling water (5 minutes for small potatoes, 10 minutes for large ones). Cut the potatoes into thin slices.
5. Place the potato slices at the bottom of a fairly high, oiled gratin dish (this will be the dish in which you will cook your moussaka). Sprinkle the potatoes with a little (3 tablespoons) of the juice from the simmering tomatoes.
6. Place the potato dish under the grill for 5 to 10 minutes depending on your oven, so that they brown.
7. For the eggplants:  Place the eggplant slices in the pan over high heat to grill them a little on each side, set aside.
8. For the meat:   In a saucepan, brown the minced meat in olive oil over a fairly high heat, add salt and pepper and remove the water released by the meat. Add the tomato-onion sauce and reduce the heat (very low).
9. At this time, remove the potato dish from the oven and preheat the oven to 180°, thermostat 6.
10. For the béchamel:   In a small saucepan over low heat, brown the 20 g of butter, add the flour and mix to obtain a homogeneous mixture. Gradually add the milk, stirring constantly, it can take a good 10 minutes, you should obtain a fairly thick sauce. Salt, pepper, grate the nutmeg.
11. The moussaka:   On top of the layer of potatoes, spread half of the minced meat with the tomato, then half of the eggplants, then the other half of the meat, then the other half of the eggplants, a drizzle of oil olive, then béchamel, then grated gruyere.