Recipes

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and prepare a baking pan by lightly greasing. Toss eggplant with ¼ cup olive oil, salt, and pepper, and roast on a sheet pan until very tender and browned. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees once eggplant is removed. In a large sauté pan, cook onions in remaining olive oil until tender, add peppers and cook until very soft. Add garlic, herbs, and spices and cook until very fragrant. Add wine and cook until almost completely reduced. Add tomatoes and cook until sauce has thickened slightly. Separately, cook meat until done, drain off the fat, and add to the tomato sauce, while continuing to simmer. In a small saucepan, melt butter and cook until it becomes foamy. Stir in flour to create a roux. Cook until sandy in texture. Slowly whisk in the half and half and milk and continue stirring until thickened. Add a small amount of milk mixture to the beaten egg to temper, and then add egg into sauce. Season with nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Assemble the moussaka in layers. First a bit of meat sauce in the bottom of the pan, then a layer of roasted eggplant, add more meat sauce to cover, then drizzle generously with the white béchamel sauce. Sprinkle with paprika and parsley, and continue layering until all ingredients are used. Finish with a layer of béchamel, and bake at 350 degrees until heated through and sauce begins to bubble