Baked Moussaka
We have been travelling to Greece a lot in our kitchen lately. We live in a neighbourhood with lots of olive trees, lemons, and rosemary on the nature strips and at this time of year they are weighed down with fruit for the picking. Lemon and fresh herbs have featured in nearly every dish this week, as we make the most of the free spoils around us (and avoid the $1.50 per lemon price tag at the supermarket!).
Bottled lemon juice works as a cost-effective substitute too, but if you can go fresh it just makes it better. The vitamin C is also highest in fruit and veg when it is just picked and not cooked- so a squeeze of fresh lemon juice on your meal is going to help all the more with iron absorption for your little one too!
Today we are going to make a one tray bake moussaka filled with iron rich lamb and topped with a creamy sauce.
Baked Moussaka
What You Need
For the meat sauce:
- 1 tbs olive oil
- 1 onion
- 2 tsp minced garlic
- 1 carrot diced
- ½ cup of tomato paste
- 1 x 800g tin of diced tomatoes
- 1 tablespoon of dried oregano
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 sprig of fresh rosemary diced or 1 tbs of dried
- 2 large eggplants
- 500g lamb mince
- Good amount of cracked pepper
For the cheese sauce:
-
- 2 tbs of olive oil
- 2 cups of milk (you can use plant milk if dairy free)
- ¼ cup of flour (you can use chickpea flour if wheat free)
- ¼ tsp of ground nutmeg and cracked pepper
- ½ cup of grated parmesan or cheddar cheese (if your bub is dairy free you can use a vegan cheese or add in 1 tsp of mild mustard, 1 tbs of lemon juice and 1 tbs of nutritional yeast to your sauce to bring the cheesey flavour)
What To Do
- Preheat your oven to 180 degrees celsius.
- Firstly, thinly slice your eggplant and salt them. To salt the eggplant, you just sprinkle salt onto the slices and allow it to sit for 30 minutes before thoroughly rinsing. We do this to soften as well as remove water (so the dish isn’t soggy) and remove the bitterness. You can skip this step if you are busy. Washing the eggplant does remove the salt, so we aren’t adding sodium to the dish.
- In your pan heat your olive oil before adding in your onion, carrot and garlic
- Cook until your onions and carrot are softening
- Throw in your herbs and spices and cook for a couple of minutes
- Add in your tomato paste, tomatoes and lamb
- Now we build it! Arrange the 1/3 of the eggplant in a single layer over the bottom of your oven proof dish and then add a layer of sauce using 1/2 of the sauce in your pan. Repeat to make another eggplant and meat layer and topping with a layer of eggplant.
Topping - the cheese sauce!
- Add your olive oil to the pan and stir in your flour to make a paste
- Slowly add your milk into the pan and whisk to break up any lumps. Continue adding in the milk
- When your sauce is smooth and thick, add in your pepper, nutmeg and cheese. Stir these in before taking it off the heat
- Pour over the top of the eggplant and meat sauce layers
- Sprike with a little more cheese before baking
Cooking
- Pop on your lid (or cover in foil) and cook for 1 hours
- Remove your lid and cook for another 20-30 mins to add a little colour
Serve with delicious green beans and a squeeze of lemon juice!
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