Vegetarian Moussaka

I hadn’t made or had Moussaka in awhile, so thought to try to make a vegetarian version of it.

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Prep time: 30 minutes

Cooking time: 1 hour

Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Serving: 8

Ingredients:

• 6–7 large eggplants

• 5 potatoes

• vegetable oil for frying the vegetables or olive oil for baking the vegetables

• 600-700g mushrooms, chopped

• 1 medium red onion, finely chopped

• 1–2 cloves of garlic, chopped

• 1/4 of a cup white wine

• 1/4 of a cup olive oil

• 1 tin chopped tomatoes

• 2 tbsp tomato paste

• 1 tsp sugar

• 1 bay leaf

• one cinnamon stick

• salt and freshly ground pepper

• chopped parsley (optional)

• breadcrumbs (optional)

FOR THE BÉCHAMEL SAUCE

• 875ml milk (warmed)

• 100g butter

• 100g flour

• a pinch of nutmeg

• 2 egg yolks

• 100g Parmigiano-Reggiano

• salt to taste

Method:

1. begin by preparing your eggplants, Remove the stalks from the eggplants and cut them into slices, aprroximately 1 cm thick. Season with salt and place in a colander for about half an hour.

2. If you are adding potatoes, slice them into 0.5cm and set aside.

3. Rinse the eggplants with plenty of water and squeeze with your hands to get rid of the excessive water. Pat them dry and fry in plenty of oil, until nicely colored. Place the fried eggplants on some paper, in order to absorb the oil. For a healthier version drizzle the eggplants with some olive oil and bake them for 15 minutes at 200C instead of frying them. repeat process with potatoes. Season with some salt and set them aside when done.

4. Heat a pan to medium-high heat and add the olive oil. Stir in the chopped mushrooms and sauté, until most of the juices have evaporated. Add the chopped onions and garlic and sauté. Pour in the wine and wait to evaporate. Add the tinned tomatoes, mushing them with a wooden spoon, then add the sugar, cinnamon and a pinch of salt and pepper. Bring to the boil, turn the heat down and simmer for about 15 minutes until most of the juices have evaporated and the sauce thickens.

5. Lastly prepare the béchamel sauce, Use a deep pan to melt the butter over low-medium heat. Add the flour whisking continuously to make a paste and add warmed milk in a steady stream. Keep whisking in order to prevent your sauce from getting lumpy. If the sauce still needs to thicken, boil over low heat while continuing to stir. Remove the pan from the stove and stir in the egg yolks, salt, pepper, a pinch of nutmeg and the grated cheese. Whisk really quickly, season with salt and pepper to taste and set aside while you assemble the dish.

6. you will need a large baking dish, roughly 20x30 cm. Butter the bottom and sides of the pan and sprinkle with some breadcrumbs (this will help absorb the extra juices). Layer the eggplants then the potatoes. Pour in the mushroom sauce then bechamel sauce on top. Add a second layer of eggplants and potatoes, top with mushroom sauce then béchamel sauce and smooth out with a spatula.

7. Sprinkle with grated cheese and bake the vegetarian moussaka in preheated oven at 180-200C for about 25-30 minutes, until crust turns light golden brown. wait for the moussaka to cool down for a few minutes before cutting into pieces and enjoy!

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I remember why I love this dish, similar to a lasagne with all the layers and cheesy top. but i love the combination of eggplant and potatoes with a tomato and bechamel sauce, the layers look so beautiful and who doesn’t like a crusted cheesy top. baking the eggplant and potatoes are definitely a healthier verion however frying them might give them a nice little crust and add a bit more flavor to the vegetables and dish. I will use these portions of the bechamel sauce for my lasagne or other dishes as this actually became quite thick however the other bechamel versions had a bit more flavor and dimension, so next time i think i will combine the two recipes and see how that turns out.

But overall I will be making this again, same amount of work to cook a lasagne just using a few different ingredients and flavoring.