Beef moussaka

Keep warm on cold nights with this heart-warming beef dish with a creamy béchamel sauce.

Serves 5 people

Ingredients

• 80ml rice bran oil
• 1kg lean minced beef
• 1 ½ tsp garlic (crushed)
• 120g onion (sliced)
• ¾ tbsp dried oregano
• 2 tbsp continental parsley (chopped)
• 55g tomato paste
• 400g crushed tomato
• 200ml beef stock
• ¾ tsp black pepper
• 1 ½ eggplant (thinly sliced)
• 60g plain flour
• 600ml milk
• Pinch of ground nutmeg
• Pinch of white pepper
• 60g cheese (grated)

Method

1. Pre heat oven to 180°C.
2. Heat oil in a large pot, add onion and garlic cook for 10–15 minutes or until slightly coloured, add mince and pepper, cook for a further 15 minutes or until liquid from the mince has evaporated.
3. Add tomato paste, oregano and parsley mix through. Add the crushed tomato and the beef stock, bring to a boil and turn down to a simmer, cook for 1–1½ hours or until sauce is thickened.
4. In another pot, heat the remaining quantity of oil and stir in the flour, cook out for 5-8 minutes, slowly add the milk, whisk to a smooth consistency.
5. Cook béchamel sauce for 30–40 minutes, whisking very often to ensure there are no lumps, add nutmeg and white pepper, stir and cook for a further 5 minutes. Whisk to ensure a smooth consistency to the finished sauce.
6. Stir in 80% of the grated cheese into the béchamel and keep warm, reserve the remaining to cheese for the top.
7. Slice the eggplants long ways thinly, put a layer of eggplant in the bottom of a baking dish, put a third of the mince on the eggplant top with a quarter of the béchamel sauce, cover béchamel with another layer of eggplant. Continue this process until all the sauces are used. Finish with a layer of eggplant topped with béchamel, sprinkle the remaining grated cheese on top.
8. Place moussaka in the oven and cook for 45 minutes to 1 hour or until cheese has browned and béchamel is set.
9. Allow to cool before cutting into portions.

This recipe is provided by the Healthy Eating Advisory Service (HEAS) and was originally published on the HEAS website.