Greek Moussaka

Ingredients:

3 pieces of eggplant medium to large

3 pieces of potato

1 large onion

2 cloves of garlic

700 grams of minced meat

3 tablespoons of olive pil

2 table spoons of tomato paste(optional)

260 grams of tomato juice

1 cup (240 ML) of meat or chicken broth

1 teaspoon of salt

1/2 teaspoon of black pepper

1 teaspoon of thyme

1 liter (4 cups) of milk

120 grams of butter

120 grams of flour

100 grams of Mainz white cheddar for béchamel

1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg

2 egg yolks

Vegetable oil for frying

200 grams of Mainz red cheddar on the top

Method:

1 prepare the vegetables, cut eggplant into slices equivalent to 1 cm. Season with salt and let sit for 30 minutes. During the 30 minutes peel the potatoes and cut to slices

2 wash the eggplant well and dry it. Fry the eggplant and potatoes until golden. To prepare a lighter recipe, place the eggplant and potatoes on a tray and sprinkle olive oil then bake until golden

3 prepare meat seasoning, heat the olive oil, heat the olive oil in a frying pan on medium heat. Place cut onions and let it cook for 3-4 minutes then mash the garlic cloves and cook for 3-4 minutes

4 put the minced meat and cook while stirring so the meat color doesn’t become light. Put salt, and black pepper, cinnamon, thyme and mix well. Add tomato juice and stir. Add tomato paste(optional)  and stir.

Add broth and stir until it boils.

Lower the temperature and let sit then remove from heat and leave it on the side

5 preparing béchamel: heat a liter of milk in a medium pot on low heat to melt butter. When the butter melts place flour and stir consistently until it becomes a smooth texture.

Start adding in intervals warm milk with consistent stirring.

Stir until the bechamel is thick then remove from the heat and add a sprinkle of salt, black pepper, nutmeg and mainz white cheddar and egg yolks then stir until combined.

6 preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius

7 place the eggplants: add 4-5 tablespoons of béchamel to meat mix and stir.

Place a layer of potatoes in an oven friendly tray size 33x22 cm then add a layer of eggplant then add meat mix and spread.

Add a later of the remaining eggplant and pour the béchamel.

 in the last step sprinkle on top mainz yellow cheddar.

8 bake for 40-50 minutes until gold and you can turn on the grill.

Remove it from the oven and let it cool down for at least 45 minutes before eating