Musaka or Mousaka

This recipe is for Pierre-Marc!

This is a typical dish to eat in Greece especially in the summer, even if it is quite heavy for the warm weather that we have in Greece. You will need quite some time for it but it is worth!

What I do is that I usually make the tomato-meat sauce (kimas in greek) the previous day, so that it takes me less time to prepare this dish the day that I am cooking it. In the traditional recipe the potatoes and the aubergines are being fried but I always put them in the oven, cause like this I have less mess in my kitchen and I think it is more easy going like this.

Sometimes I add grated cheese in between the layers of the potatoes and aubergines.

This dish is a heavy dish and bare this in mind! Especially if you fry the potatoes and the aubergines.

Ingredients

• potatoes
• aubergine
• thyme
• salt
• pepper

• tomato meat sauce (basically it is minced meat with tomato and onion, but you can skip the meat)
• Here the video: How to make greek kimas
• bechamel sauce (you can find a gluten free and dairy free version clicking on the left on the name) or you can make a quick yogurt sauce

Preparation

• Prepare the minced meat or tomato sauce
• Cut the potatoes and the aubergine in slices only when they are ready to be cooked, so that they do not change color
• The original version requires the potatoes and the aubergines to be fried but I always put them in the oven with a bit of olive oil, water, salt, pepper and thyme
• When you have the potatoes and the aubergines cooked and the minced meat sauce ready, prepare the bechamel
• Start layering the ingredients starting with the potatoes. 1 layer of potatoes, 1 of aubergines and then meat. Repeat once more time and finish with the bechamel sauce
• Cook for approximately 35 min (depending on your oven) and till the surface gets color and before you serve it wait at least 20 minutes that it cools down a bit

Tip

It matches really well with a greek salad!