Serves a Crowd

Moussaka - by Nancy Taylor Robson

March 25, 2010
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0 Ratings
  • Serves 6
Author Notes

This time of year is perfect for moussaka. Lamb is the Pascal season meat, eggplants are beautiful in the grocery stores (no local, of course, but still, very nice), and spinach, planted last fall, is starting to come up again and so may well be fresh and local if not this week, then perhaps next. Moussaka is a wonderful, rich, yet ultimately economical dish because it feeds a lot of people with a relatively small amount of meat. —fineartdaily

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • 1 pound ground lamb
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • pepper & salt to taste
  • 1 medium eggplant
  • 15 ounces can tomatoes or 5 fresh, seeded tomatoes
  • 1 tablespoon oregano or marjoram
  • 1/2 cup fresh basil or (1 tablespoon dried)
  • 2 cups fresh spinach leaves
  • 2 cups béchamel sauce
  • 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Directions
  1. Sauté first six ingredients (#5 & #6 being salt and pepper) until the meat is nicely browned.
  2. Place browned meat in the bottom of a large casserole. Sprinkle chopped oregano and fresh parsley overtop.
  3. Then layer the next ingredients starting with thinly sliced eggplant, sprinkled with oregano, followed by tomatoes then fresh basil, followed by layered spinach leaves.
  4. Cover all with béchamel to seal the casserole, then top with a generous coating of freshly grated Parmesan cheese.
  5. Bake at 350ºF for 50 minutes to 1 hour or until it is beginning to brown on top, bubbling along the sides and the eggplant is completely cooked and soft.

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1 Review

Kelsey B. March 25, 2010
What a beautiful illustration!