Kylie's moussaka

NZ Woman's Weekly 26/4/2012

Annabelle White

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Serves 6

This is a wonderful dish – yes, it does have stages to it but you will enjoy the result. Make it early in the day and place in fridge for your dinner the next day.

Ingredients

50 g	Butter
4 tbsp	Flour
2 cups	Milk, brought to the boil
1 pinch	Ground nutmeg
½ tsp	Salt, or to taste
4 tbsp	Olive oil
1	Onion, finely chopped
2	Garlic cloves, finely chopped
2	Bay leaves
500 g	Lamb mince
2 cans	Chopped tomatoes, 2x 410g in juice
3 tbsp	Tomato paste
1 to taste	Freshly ground black pepper
2	Eggplant, (800g in total) sliced 1cm thick
½ cup	Flour, for dusting
3	Eggs, beaten
1½ cups	Breadcrumbs
1 to fry	Vegetable oil
½ cup	Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
½ cup	Tasty cheese, grated
1 to serve	Fresh parsley, chopped

Directions

Make a béchamel by gently heating the butter. Add flour – take care to ensure the flour does not brown.
Slowly add hot milk, stirring. Bring mixture just to boil, add nutmeg and season. Simmer, stirring it will thicken. Cool and stir from time to time to prevent skin forming.
Heat oil over low heat. Add onion, garlic and bay leaves. Cook very gently for 10 minutes.
Add mince, increase the heat and cook for another 10 minutes breaking up the lumps.
Add undrained tomatoes and tomato paste and simmer another 5 to 10 minutes. Take off heat, discard bay leaves, season and reserve.
Lightly dust eggplant slices in flour and dunk well in beaten egg. Coat well in breadcrumbs.
Preheat oven to 170 degC. Heat vegetable oil over moderate heat and fry eggplant slices in batches until browned on each side. Remove breadcrumbs from pan as you cook.
Place cooked eggplant on paper towels. Then place half the fried eggplant in a large 23 x 28cm baking dish in one layer and sprinkle with half the cheeses. Cover with an even layer of lamb. Cover that with remaining eggplant.
Spread béchamel over eggplant and remaining cheeses on top. Bake for 40 minutes until golden brown and bubbling. Cool for 10 minutes and sprinkle with more parsley.