Greek moussaka with bechamel sauce

What ingredients do you need to make this Greek Moussaka with Bechamel sauce?

All products for this Greek Moussaka with Bechamel sauce / Mornay sauce are listed here. You can see at a glance what you need and possibly get it from the shop.

The vegetables

3 Potatoes

2 Zucchini

2 eggplant

Salty

Pepper

Sunflower oil to bake in

The minced meat

1 onion

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Thyme

Salt

pepper

1 clove of garlic

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp cinnamon (extended)

1/2 tsp clove

1 tbsp tomato puree

500 g ground beef

400 g canned tomatoes

salt

pepper

1/2 bunch of parsley

1/2 bunch of basil

The sauce

100 g butter

100 g of all purposes flowe

750 ml of milk, 3.5%

salt

pepper, ground

1 pinch of nutmeg, ground

100 g Parmesan cheese, grated

3 egg yolks

Cooking the vegetables

Put a frying pan on the fire with sunflower oil, make sure the oil has a temperature of 180 degrees. Peel the potatoes and cut them into thin slices. Fry the potatoes until tender in the sunflower oil. In the meantime, cut the aubergine and courgette into thin slices.

When the potatoes are golden brown, remove them from the pan and place them on a baking sheet with baking paper on top. Now it's the turn of the aubergine and courgette to be fried until nicely browned. After that, you can add them to the jacket potatoes.

Preparing the minced meat

Put a new frying pan on the fire and make sure it is very hot. Chop one onion into pieces, add two tablespoons Extra virgin olive oil in the pan and fry the onion in it. Now add a clove of thinly sliced garlic, and enjoy the wonderful aroma that is now being released.

A generous amount of fresh thyme gives the moussaka an extra delicious flavour. Add salt and pepper and then the granulated sugar. The sugar is needed to caramelise the onion for a good balance with the taste of tomato.

The strong flavours cinnamon and cloves can now be added. Then add the minced meat and make it a bit smaller. Let the minced meat caramelise just like the onions. When this is done, add a tablespoon of tomato puree to the pan and stir it in gently. This gives the minced meat an extra delicious sweet taste. You can now add the tomatoes and stir until all the moisture has evaporated. This takes about 5 to 10 minutes.

Finish the mince with a handful of herbs, a mix of parsley and basil.

From Bechamel sauce to Mornay sauCE

Take a large pan and put 100 grams of butter in it. Make sure that the butter liquefies gently, without letting it fry brown. The whisk can help you do this. Add the flour and stir until it has become thick and smooth. This is called Roux and is the basis for all sauces you make yourself.

Add the milk in small amounts. After each shot, keep stirring until the milk is completely absorbed by the Roux. Keep doing this until all the milk is in the pan and it starts to boil. Then take the pan off the heat and add a little nutmeg, salt and pepper. When you have stirred this through, you call it Bechamel sauce.

But we are not done yet, for the Moussaka we use the Mornay sauce. You can make this very easily by adding the Parmesan cheese and egg yolk at this point. Once you have done that, stir the whole thing into a perfect Mornay sauce.

Prepare this Greek dish for the oven

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Take a large baking dish, you do NOT need to put olive oil in it. Here is the order for the oven dish.

- One layer of jacket potatoes

- One layer of fried aubergine

- Salt and pepper

- One layer of fried courgette

- Salt and pepper

Add three large spoonfuls of Mornay sauce to the mince mix and stir well. When this is mixed well, pour it on top of the courgette and even it out with a spoon. Now pour the Mornay sauce onto the minced meat and smooth it out with a spatula. Finally, add a little Parmesan cheese, so that the whole thing can be baked until it is nicely browned.

The Greek Moussaka can go into the oven for 35 to 40 minutes until it is nicely browned. Set the Greek dish aside to cool for half an hour.

Serve this Greek Moussaka with extra virgin olive oil and fresh herbs