6 or 7 lbs. Eggplants
1 lb. Ground lamb – see instructions
½ lb. Ground pork
Olive oil
1 Medium white or yellow onion
6 Cloves of garlic, minced or sliced thin
2 t Whole peppercorns
Salt (See: salt notes )
5 Cloves
6 Allspice berries
1 t Dried oregano
¾ t Ground cinnamon
Canned tomatoes (1 28-oz. can, with their juice), chopped.
About half a bunch of finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
5 T Unsalted butter
7 T All-purpose flour (or 3T of a clear starch – see instructions)
About 4 cups Whole milk
About 4 oz. strong, dry sheep’s milk cheese, like Kasseri or Pecorino Romano, grated
Cayenne
Nutmeg
Breadcrumbs or Cornmeal
This recipe is scaled to a baking pan about 14” X 11” X 3”. Quantities may be adjusted as necessary. It can also be made using all lamb, all beef or whatever you prefer. If you want a vegetarian option, replace the meat by 1 ½ lbs. of sliced cremini or other mushrooms. In that case, cook the mushrooms separately, and add them just before adding the spices. Please note that replacing the meat by vegetables does not make this a strictly vegetarian recipe. Most “normal” cheese is made using rennet, an enzyme made from animal products. Vegetarian cheeses are available.
Preheat the oven to 375º. (If you are using a convection oven, adjust the temperature appropriately for your oven.) Wash the eggplants and cut off the ends. Remove about half the peel in lengthwise strips leaving the eggplant looking striped. Cut slices that are between ¾” and 1”.
Optional:
Put the slices on a rack and salt them. Allow them to sit for at least an hour. Rinse off the salt and squeeze out some of the water. Dry the slices with paper towels. The time in the oven will be less.
Spray one or more sheet pans with cooking spray or brush with olive oil. (You will probably need 2 full sheets to make the entire recipe.) Place the eggplant onto the pan and brush both sides with olive oil. If you did not salt your eggplant earlier, sprinkle salt on the slices now. Put the eggplant into the oven for 25 minutes. Turn the slices over and return them to the oven for another 25 minutes or until done.
Grind the peppercorns, allspice, and cloves together. Add the oregano and cinnamon. Sauté the onion in olive oil with a pinch of salt until very-lightly browned. Add the garlic and then the meat. Cook until the raw, red color is gone. Add the spices and cook for a few more seconds. You probably don’t want to add very much salt, because the cheese that is to be added later is very salty. Stir in the tomatoes and continue cooking until the liquid from the tomatoes is gone. You can tell when it is done when the sound changes as the tomato liquid is gone and the mixture starts to fry in the rendered fat. Near the end, stir in the parsley. Set the mixture aside.
Melt the butter over medium heat and wait until the water is cooked out. Add the flour all at once. Stir with a whisk until it colors very slightly. Slowly add the milk, while whisking to keep it smooth. Bring the mixture to a boil and cook for a minute.
If you want a less rich or gluten free sauce, skip making a roux from butter and flour. Instead, make a slurry with ¼ cup of the milk and the clear starch. Heat the rest of milk to a simmer and stir in the slurry. Bring it to a boil and cook for a minute. If you want the sauce to be gluten-free but want the richness, make the sauce with the starch, rather than flour and butter, and replace the milk by half-and-half or use a mixture.
In either case, season the sauce with a little cayenne and nutmeg. Off the heat, stir in the cheese and continue to stir until the cheese is melted.
Preheat the oven to 350º. To assemble the dish, put a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in the bottom of a baking pan. Put about half the eggplant in a layer on the bottom of the pan. Cover with the meat mixture, then the rest of the eggplant. Finally spread on the cheese sauce. Sprinkle with breadcrumbs. If you want gluten free, omit the breadcrumbs or replace them by a medium-grind cornmeal. Cover the dish with foil and bake for about an hour. If you refrigerate the moussaka before baking so that it goes into the oven cold, the time will be substantially longer. Remove the foil; raise the temperature to 375º and cook until done (about 15 minutes). All the cooking times are dependent on how you scale the recipe. A smaller pan may require less time to heat through. Cover, and let the dish sit for 10 or 15 minutes before serving so that it will firm up.