Today I’ll show you my Moussaka recipe. Only last week it was there again, this discussion whether we cook lasagna or musaka.
The decision is easy for me, I like the combination of potatoes, aubergines and tomato juices very much.
Besides, when I eat lasagna I always have to think of the film of Godfather Part III, specifically the place where the poor daughter dies in Michael Corleone’s arms. The Mafia won’t come into my kitchen today! So rather Greek…
Now it starts, here is the cook of your confidence and I show you a delicious dish for the oven. Read more for advantages, I have hidden a secret bechamel sauce for you.
In the following story I will give you good tips that will awaken your cooking genius and show you several variations of the Greek casserole with eggplants.
Inhalt
1. Vegetarian Musaka
In Spain, I have just eaten a delicious Tumbet Mallorquin with my colleague Roberto.
Tumbet is this fantastic vegetable, which beside schnitzel and chicken nuggets is still on the menu of the island, which is strongly influenced by tourists.
Vegetable preparation of Mallorcan cuisine, known as tumbet. Here layered with potato slices, aubergines, courgettes and tomato sauce. Whoever sends me an inquiry gets the address from the restaurant 🙂
That’s good, when the sunburned summer freshmen squeeze in some press chicken, then more Boquerones fritos remain for me and my readers.
Boquerones fritos are baked anchovies, served with lemon and aioli. © Thomas Sixt Foodphotographer
While I’m cutting the onion – the fumes always make me wide awake – I think about Tumbet and a vegetarian Mousakás variant.
You could really save yourself the massacre with the minced meat. Why do I care about this topic?
Wow, this onion is hot…
On the packaging of meat products there is now a sticker with the inscription “Form of husbandry”.
The approach of making it clear to the consumer which animal he is buying here is not bad.
In practice the idea fails from my experience. Unfortunately, I did not find any minced meat with the keeping form 4 = Premium in the supermarket.
So I couldn’t buy a good conscience! Fact is, butchers of trust and supermarket of trust do not exist.
Because just the third half of the onion brings me back into the kitchen reality, I make it easy:
You can just leave out the minced meat, bought with or without confidence, listed at the end of the page in the cooking instructions. The casserole will be delicious, I promise!
Try the veggie version, it has many advantages: It saves money, the vegetarian at your table either wakes up or is happy that he doesn’t just have to poke in the salad.
Besides, cooking “without” is totally in and you can incorporate it into your future small talk: “I recently had my veggie day…”.
How “In” #kochenohnetier is you can see among other things at my vegetarian Christmas goose.
The Facebook survey had a significant result, I never thought so!
Cooking #without, clear result of a survey on Facebook. What I find exciting.
2. The right Potato Variety for Casserole
Boiling potatoes, also bacon potatoes are ideal for this oven dish.
You can also prepare casseroles with a mainly waxy potato.
However, the consistency and taste is best with the waxy potatoes.
Please peel the potatoes thoroughly for the casserole. Peeled potatoes should be placed in cold water, then they will not turn brown!
3. Overview of the Cooking Properties of Potatoes and Use of Table Potatoes
While writing the article I searched for this potato thing and didn’t really find what I was looking for in the big G. I was very impressed with the potato thing.
Therefore I made a short overview with the help of my professional cookbook collection.
All these names around the great tuber make you smoke your head!
I hope it will help you if you stand helpless in front of the potato mountains in the supermarket again.
Really now! Thank God there is only one kind of eggplant, otherwise this article would become a doctoral thesis…
Boiling potatoes, including fat potatoes, are excellent for fine fried potatoes, potato gratin, potato pancakes and rösti, potato salad and casseroles.
Mainly waxy table potatoes as a side dish to dishes with sauces and dips, casseroles, soups, stews, potato pancakes, boiled potatoes, jacket potatoes, fried potatoes and French fries.
Flour-boiling table potatoes for mashed potatoes, potato dumplings and potato dumplings, potato dumplings, puff pastry, croquettes, baked potatoes, soups and stews.
Floury cooking potatoes are unsuitable for potato salad, fried potatoes, peel and boiled potatoes and gratins!
4. Prepare minced Meat Sauce or Vegetarian Sauce
Here are some tips and an overview…
- Brown the minced meat with the vegetables or save money and cook vegetarian.
- Sweat onions, garlic and finely chopped soup vegetables in olive oil and butter to create a fine taste. Take your time here… Let 10 minutes sweat is great!
- Add tomato paste and fry lightly. This gives a roasted taste and a darker colour!
- Deglaze with red wine and bring to the boil, add chunky tomatoes.
- Flavour with lemon zest, old balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper and sugar.
- Cook the ragout with meat for at least 35 minutes to improve the flavour.
- Vegetarian ragout can be further processed after 15 minutes.
- If you need the illusion of meat in a ragout, vegetarian minced meat made from mushrooms or soy minced meat can be added.
The minced meat sauce with tomatoes and vegetables is at home throughout the Mediterranean region in various flavours. You prepare the original Musaka casserole with lamb or minced mutton.
4.1 Cooking Video: Preparing minced Meat Sauce
In the cooking video I show you the preparation of a good minced meat sauce.
Watch me cooking over my shoulders, the video takes about 15 minutes.
Sorry, here a little mafia cuisine!
5. Recipe Musaka
Following now the ingredients and shopping list and step by step instructions. Good luck and a good appetite!
- 1 tsp oliv oil
- 10 g Butter
- 1 small onion I like to use shallots
- 1 pc clove of garlic In winter I prefer 2 cloves of garlic
- 1 bunch soup vegetables Carrots, celery, parsley root finely chopped
- 500 g minced meat from beef Original with minced lamb, alternatively soy/ mushroom product or leave aside
- 3 tbs tomato puree
- 100 ml dry red wine
- 1 can chopped tomatoes
- some Lemon abrasion
- 1 tbs Balsamico I use an old, ripe balsamic vinegar.
- 1/4 tsp salt I like to use Himalaya salt.
- 5 pinches black pepper
- 2 pinches brown sugar
- 400 g potatoes I'm using waxy potatoes
- 3 pc eggplants
- 100 ml cold water
- 1 tbs starch
- 2 cup Créme Fraîche
- 4 pinches nutmeg
- 5 pinches salt I prefer to use ursalt.
- 3 pinches pepper
- 100-150 g grated parmesan or pecorino Original is Kefalotiri, a Greek hard cheese
- 1/4 bunch thyme I also like to use marjoram/oregano.
- Put olive oil and butter in a pan and heat. Peel onions and garlic. Finely dice onions and garlic. Peel and finely dice the soup vegetables.
- Fry the minced meat in a pan, add the vegetable, garlic and onion cubes and sauté for 10 minutes. For the veggie version, leave out the minced meat or use a substitute product.
- Add the tomato paste.
- Roast the minced meat and vegetables with the tomato paste until light brown.
- Then optionally deglaze with the red wine and boil down briefly. Add the tomatoes and bring to the boil.
- Flavour the ragout with a little lemon grater, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper and sugar, simmer gently for at least 15 minutes.
- Cut the peeled potatoes into 2 mm thick slices, the eggplants into 4 mm thick slices.Prepare the secret bechamel: Mix cold water with starch, stir in the crème fraîche, season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.
- Place the potato slices in a baking dish. Cover with tomato sauce and add a few slices of secret bechamel. Place the aubergine slices in the sauce and add the vegetables. Mix the last layer with aubergines and potatoes, the vegetables should be in the sauce. Then sprinkle with the cheese.
- Cook the casserole in the oven for a good 50 minutes at 180°C hot air. Check the degree of cooking with the needle sample: If the fork is easy to prick, the casserole is ready.
- Set the table and arrange the casserole on plates, decorate with thyme and serve quickly.
6. Calories and Nutritional Values
7. More Ideas
LasagneSpaghetti Bolognese
Meatloaf
Meatloaf a la Koenigsberg
Meatballs Koenigsberg
Meatballs basic
Bavarian Meatballs
Muesli meatballs
Kottbullar