Moussaka

Ingredients:
- 1 lb ground lamb
- 3 eggplants
- 1 large yellow onion
- 1 carrot
- ½ stalk Celery
- 2 tbsp minced garlic
- Cumin powder, to taste
- Optional Spices- ground cinnamon and oregano- all to taste
- 4 plum tomatoes
- 2 potatoes, baked, sliced and seasoned w/ salt/pepper
- Salt/Pepper
- 1/3 cup Dry Red or White Wine
- ½ cup Veal stock (or beef stock reduced with tomato paste)
- 2 tbsp Tomato Paste
- Salt/Pepper
- Olive Oil
- Béchamel- recipe provided below
- Greek Cheese- kefalotiri cheese, found in greek market
- Ground Cornmeal, Polenta or Bread crumbs
- Parsley/Chives for garnish

*This dish can be made in individual soufflé dishes for unmolding, or in a large casserole dish. If unmolding, be sure to grease the mold well. Also, the amount of cumin in this recipe is dependent on your taste. I love the flavor of cumin, so I use it quite liberally. Make to your taste.

Directions:
- Slice your eggplant into 1/8 inch rounds. Drizzle with oil and season w/ salt/pepper. Bake in a 450 degrees oven until fully cooked.
- Dice your onion, carrot, celery, and garlic extremely fine.
- Slice your tomatoes. Season with salt, pepper, cumin. Quickly sauté each slice on a hot skillet with oil. Set aside.
- Using a wooden spoon, sauté your ground lamb in a hot skillet with olive oil. Make sure your skillet is hot for good caramelization of the meat. Season with salt, pepper, and cumin powder while cooking. Once seared, drain the fat onto a bowl. Optionally add ground cinnamon, or oregano to taste.
- In the same skillet, heat with more oil, and add the onion, carrot, celery, and garlic. Season with salt and pepper. Sweat and sauté until fully cooked. Note, if your skillet had black burned bits from the lamb, it’s best to use a brand new skillet, or else your end result will be bitter.
- Once the veggies are cooked, add the meat back in.
- Add the tomato paste and cook by pushing meat/veggies aside. Then incorporate the paste into the meat/veggies.
- Deglaze with the white or red wine. Bring to a boil and reduce.
- Add veal stock (or beef stock reduced w/ tomato paste) to the skillet. Bring to a boil and reduce over a simmer until almost all stock is gone.
- Taste for seasonings, and add more cumin, salt/pepper as needed.
- Start layering your moussaka into a greased casserole dish. Start with a layer of eggplant slices, lamb mixture, slices of potato, and slices of tomatoes, béchamel, cheese, and repeat. Push down while layering, so everything is compact. Once done layering, top with a sprinkle of cornmeal/polenta, or bread crumbs. Note, if unmolding from a soufflé mold, be sure to layer the eggplant slices nicely along the bottom and the sides for the first layer.
- Bake in a 350 degrees oven for about 20 minutes or until you have achieved a nice, golden color on top.
- Let set before serving. If unmolding, let set a little longer.
- Garnish with parsley or chives before serving if desired.

Bechamel Sauce:

Ingredients:
- Milk
- Flour
- Butter
- Fresh Nutmeg
- Salt/Pepper
- Herbs to infuse the milk (Bay Leaves, Thyme Sprigs)- optional

Directions:
- Melt butter in a pot. Once melted, take off the heat
- Whisk in an equal amount of flour and put back on the heat to cook. Do not allow too much color. The roux should be blond
- Take off heat again, and whisk in a little bit of cold milk. Whisk in a little in the beginning and whisk to incorporate. Once the first round of milk is incorporated you can put back on the heat and whisk. Then you can add milk in larger batches. Don’t add to much to avoid over thinning.
- Keep whisking over heat until starts to thicken. Once mixture comes to a boil, it is at it’s full thickening power. If it is too thick, you can whisk in more milk. Only cook for a minute after it’s too a boil.
- Add salt, pepper, and fresh nutmeg.

* Béchamel is best when cold and hot is incorporated together. In this recipe, the roux is hot, and the milk is cold. You can do the reverse, by making the roux in advance and refrigerating. Whisk the cold roux into a little bit of hot milk, starting with a little hot milk at a time. Continue to add hot milk to your desired thickness. As far as measurements, 1 Tbs butter + 2 Tbs flour will thicken 1 cup of liquid, to produce a sauce of the consistency that is perfect to use as a pouring sauce, and for making lasagna and gratin dishes. It's also the basis for Sauce Mornay, otherwise known as plain old cheese sauce. So, if you want 4 cups of sauce, you'll use 4 Tbs + 8 Tbs, and so on. If you want a stiffer sauce, say for making cream croquettes, you would use more roux. To better infuse flavor in milk, heat milk w/ bay leaves or thyme before adding to roux.