Moose-Kaka!

Have you seen "My Big Fat Greek Wedding"? Well, if you have then you "get" the title. I finally made moussaka for dinner the other week! It's something I've always wanted to try. I had it many times while living in Greece (our pastor made a terrific one!) but never attempted it...until now!

*warning* it is time consuming so do not attempt if you have twin infants and a two year-old running around. . . oh wait, I have that!

Well, the only way to make this dinner was to do it during nap time. I mostly cook during nap time but usually I start dinner in the last 20 minutes of nap time because I use a pressure cooker most days (I love that thing!). But with moussaka, you need some time.


Here's basically the way I made it:

Slice an eggplant or 2 into about 1 inch wide slices (do this part before nap time)

Put them in a bowl and sprinkle a lot of salt on them. Cover and let it sit for an hour or so. This drains the bitterness out of them.






How to make your meat sauce:

chop an onion, fry it in olive oil. Add chopped garlic (I used 4 cloves I think)

add the ground beef when the onions are transparent.

I seasoned the beef with salt (I didn't measure) and oregano (again, no measuring)

Add about 3 fresh tomatos chopped (after beef is cooked) and some tomato sauce

*note* you probably will add a little water throughout this process to keep things from burning.

okay I think that's it, just let it all simmer til the tomatos are cooked. When they're done, turn off the flame and let it cool off (you'll be adding 2 egg whites to the meat after it's cool)








Okay, next slice some potatos (I think I used 4) it just depends on your pan size.

Wash the eggplant slices that have been sitting in salt (you should see some brown liquid leaving the bowl)
Dry the eggplant on a towel

heat some olive oil in a fry pan.

fry the eggplant so that it browns on both sides (you will have to keep adding oil because the eggplant really soaks up the oil)





fry the potatos also on both sides.

when the meat sauce is cool add 2 egg whites, beaten and mix.

Butter your dish, I used a 13x9 glass dish.

Sprinkle bread crumbs in dish (I used one piece of bread for each time I had to use bread crumbs, but if you use already made crumbs, it's about 2 Tablespoons)

Put a layer of either potatos or eggplant down (think I started with potato)

Pour half of the meat mixture on top

another sprinkle of bread crumbs

another layer of either potato or eggplant

pour the rest of the meat mixture

Then a cream sauce goes on top.

To make that you melt about 3/4 of a stick of butter in a sauce pan.
When it's melted, add about 2 heaping soup spoons of flour, wisk this.
After a minute or so of wisking, add milk (I like to use whole milk). Make sure you have a lot of milk on hand because it thickens quickly and you need to keep adding milk and wisking. Slowly add the milk until you reach a desired consistancy. You want it thin but not TOO thin. You want it to be thick enough to sit on top of the dish. Just practice and you'll figure out what you like.







Pour this cream sauce on top and bake at 375 until top is golden. Cut into squares and serve, yum! Even Luli who has been a bit of a picky eater, devoured this. I was shocked. Maybe she didn't notice the eggplant?






And speaking of Luli, here's our little Greek-born girl!







Hmmm, getting tired of Mama taking photos