Moussaka Comfort Casserole

The best comfort food ever! You can play around with vegetables you want to add to this dish, and swap out some. The secret is in the herbs and the delicious layer of cheese goodness. You will enjoy this dish soo much, the more leftover for the next day, the better haha.

Recipe:

Beef sauce:

1 cup Ground Beef

2 tablespoon Olive Oil

1/2 cup yellow onion, diced

1 large garlic clove, crushed

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp crushed pepper

1/4 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp Italian seasoning

1/2 tsp Oregano

1 can (14 oz.) diced tomatoes

1/2 Tbsp tomato paste

1/4 cup parsley, finely minced

Vegetables:

1 medium sized Eggplant, peeled and sliced horizontally

1 medium sized Zucchini, sliced horizontally

1 large potato, peeled and sliced horizontally

4 tablespoons Olive Oil

1/2 tsp Oregano

1/2 tsp Italian Seasoning

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

Béchamel Sauce:

1/4 cup unsalted butter

1/4 cup All-purpose flour

2 cups Whole Milk, room temp.

1/4 tsp salt

1/3 cup parmesan cheese, grated

1/2 cap mozzarella cheese, pre-shredded

Directions:

This dish has many steps like any casserole but to make it easier you can get ahead start by making the Béchamel sauce and meat sauce in advance or the day before.

Bake Vegetables:

1. Start by peeling the eggplant and potato. Then slice the eggplant, potato and zucchini horizontally so they are circles.

2. Preheat oven to 400 Fahrenheit.

3. Note: you can fry the eggplant if you prefer it fried. If so, lay the eggplant on a baking sheet and sprinkle with a lot of salt to extract the water. Fry, and let it sit in a sieve to drain the oil.

4. In a bowl, put the sliced vegetables and drizzle with olive oil, oregano, Italian seasoning, and salt. Mix well.

5. Lay on a large baking sheet and bake for 25-30 min. on 400 Fahrenheit

6. Remove from oven once the potatoes are tender and cut through easily. Make sure the eggplant is baked through and it's tender, if not bake fore an additional 10 min.

7. Place tray on the side.

Beef Sauce:

1. Diced onions, crush garlic, and mince the parsley. Put on the side for the Beef Sauce.

2. In a large pan, sauté ground beef and onion with olive oil until the beef is cooked and the onion is translucent.

3. Add garlic, all the herbs and spices, diced tomato sauce, tomato paste, and parsley. Mix well on medium heat for 5 min. and then simmer for 15 min. Set aside

Béchamel Sauce:

1. In a sauce pan, melt butter on medium heat.

2. Once melted add the flour slowly and mix on medium heat until the mixture is golden brown.

3. Slowly add the milk on the mixture in the saucepan and whisk on low heat. Adding the milk slowly will help to prevent clumping. Even if it clumps a little, just keep mixing. Simmer for 10 min.

4. Add salt. Then add the parmesan cheese and turn off the heat.

5. Let the cheese set and melt. Then fold into the milk mixture.

Baking and layering:

1. Preheat oven to 400 Fahrenheit

2. Layer ingredients in an 8in x 8in casserole dish or a similar size.

3. Put 1/2 cooking spoon full of meat sauce on bottom of casserole dish, then layer baked potatoes, then a thin layer of béchamel, then zucchini, then eggplant, then rest of meat sauce, then rest of béchamel, then add the Mozzarella cheese.

4. Bake for 15 min.

5. Then broil for 3 min. or until golden brown spots appear.

Enjoy and Sahteen!