Moussaka with minced meat and potatoes. Moussaka with potatoes - a quick recipe. Musaka: recipe from Julia Vysotskaya

When I once again get bored with my entire repertoire of standard family dinners, I point my finger at the sky, choose a country, read about its culinary traditions, find out what they usually cook as everyday food, simplify the recipe as much as possible and adapt it to ours. realities and then I cook. New, fresh, unconventional and not boring. This time, we drew a picture - and it turned out so magnificently and charmingly that the family asked to repeat it the next day, and then again - a day later and after two. I doubt that I am ready to cook this dish so often, but the fact that from now on it will become a frequent guest on our table is a fact.

Moussaka is a multi-layered casserole that consists of eggplant, minced meat, béchamel sauce. Sometimes other ingredients are added to the dish - mushrooms, potatoes, zucchini. In one form or another, moussaka is found in many cuisines of the world, however, Greece is considered the birthplace of the recipe.

Ingredients:

500 g of minced meat (classic - lamb, I took veal);

3 eggplants;

2 potatoes;

4 tomatoes;

1 tbsp. l. tomato paste;

1 onion;

2-3 cloves of garlic;

150 g mozzarella;

500 ml of milk;

50 g butter;

salt, black pepper, nutmeg to taste;

vegetable oil for frying vegetables.

Cut the eggplants into plates, add a little salt, leave for 15-20 minutes, then drain the juice, dry slightly and fry in vegetable oil on both sides until golden brown.

Cut the peeled onion into cubes, fry in vegetable oil until golden brown.

Fry the minced meat until tender in another pan, mix with onions, add chopped garlic. Without removing from heat, add tomato paste, and then peeled and diced tomatoes (I had mashed homemade tomatoes frozen).

Peel the potatoes, boil until tender in salted water, puree.

Cook bechamel. Dissolve the butter in a skillet with a thick bottom. Pour in flour, mix, wait for a slight change in the color of the flour. Little by little, pour in the milk in a few tablespoons, stirring each time until smooth. This is the key point: you need to stir the sauce to perfect evenness, adding milk only after the previous portion has completely combined with the flour mass. Finally, add salt and a pinch of nutmeg.

If for some reason the bechamel did not work out for you, do not be discouraged - just "walk" over it with an immersion blender, it will be great!

Lay the eggplant in layers in a baking dish, mashed potatoes, minced meat, bechamel, three cheese on top.

We bake in an oven preheated to 180 degrees for 30-35 minutes.

Moussaka is a popular Greek dish. The dish is rich in calories and incredibly tasty, served in every Greek restaurant.

Moussaka is a casserole made from vegetables, especially eggplant, and meat with béchamel sauce. The recipe for moussaka is known in the cuisine of many countries, but the most delicious is moussaka in Greek.

There are many varieties of eggplant and meat casseroles, and there is always room for your own culinary and taste preferences. After all, a wonderful Greek cap of French béchamel sauce was added to the moussaka - and the taste of the dish only won! With traditional Greek yogurt instead of sauce, moussaka is just as great.

Homemade moussaka recipe

The recipe includes the main components Greek Moussaka(eggplant, meat, bechamel, cheese) with a little improvisation (no nutmeg, but there is Sun-dried tomatoes). The classic recipe is presented at the end of the page.

Ingredients

• eggplant - 1 kg
• bow - 2
• minced beef (mutton) - 500 grams
• tomatoes - 3 medium
• sun-dried tomatoes - 4-5 pcs.
• red dry wine- 150 ml
• cheese - 100 grams
• butter - 70 grams
• milk - 1 glass
• flour - 1.5 tbsp. spoons
• spices, salt, pepper, olive oil

How to make moussaka

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Eggplant for moussaka.
The basis of moussaka is layers of eggplant, due to which the appetizer keeps its shape when served in portions. For perfect serving, take young fruits without ripe seeds.

To peel or not peel moussaka eggplant?
V traditional dish vegetables are used together with the skin, but you can also peel them completely or remove them in strips. When baked, the skin will become soft and hardly noticeable in the dish. If you decide to leave, then choose eggplants without dark spots.

How to cut?
The shape of the cut does not play a big role - cut it lengthwise, getting plates, or across into circles. The main thing is that the pieces of eggplant fit well into the mold, leaving no empty spaces between them. Take this into account when choosing a cutting shape. The thickness of the pieces is 0.5-1 cm.



Then the eggplants should be thermally processed.
How? They can be blanched, baked in the oven, fried in a pan (grill pan).

If baking or frying, place the sliced ​​eggplants in a bowl, add salt and leave for 20 minutes to release the bitterness. Rinse under running water and dry. Then fry with a little oil. It is worth remembering that when frying, eggplants draw in a lot of oil, and when they are ready, they give the oil back. Knowing this, use a minimum of fat - just to grease the bottom of the pan, and then fold the eggplants on a sieve to drain the oil.

To bake in the oven, brush the eggplant slices on both sides with olive oil.



Chopped meat for moussaka.
Fry minced beef on olive oil... Stir and break the lumps all the time.



Peel and chop the onion. Cut the tomatoes in half and grate the pulp on a coarse grater, discard the skin. Add onions and tomatoes to the minced meat.



Stir and continue cooking for 5-7 minutes. Then pour in the wine. Which wine is best? Opinions differ on this point, choose according to your taste - red, white, or even brandy.



Add spices to the minced meat: bay leaf, oregano, allspice, cinnamon, sun-dried tomatoes, lemon zest, chili with flakes - to your taste.

Reduce the heat to low and evaporate the liquid, bringing the minced meat to readiness and not forgetting to stir from time to time. The finished minced meat should be dryish, and the liquid must be completely evaporated.



Make the béchamel sauce.
In a saucepan, melt the butter and stir in the flour, a whisk will do just fine. Aim for a thick roux (flour and milk base). Set the heat under the saucepan to minimum. Let the flour and butter almost simmer.



Remove the saucepan from the heat and pour in the milk, stirring constantly, in a thin stream. Warm milk slightly before adding.



The sauce will change before your eyes: at first it will be liquid, and after a couple of minutes it will begin to turn into a thick, creamy consistency.



So, the base sauce is ready, but you can complement it with grated cheese or egg yolk, season with nutmeg.



When all the components of the moussaka are ready, you can start assembling. For this purpose, you will need a baking dish with sides.

Assembling and laying out.
First, form the bottom layer of eggplant, placing the largest pieces tightly together.



Sprinkle with grated cheese.



The next layer consists of minced meat.



Cover the minced meat with a layer of eggplant. If the shape and quantity of products allows, then the styling can be increased by a couple of layers. The last layer must be eggplants - they are sprinkled with cheese and poured with béchamel sauce.



Sprinkle cheese over the top.



Cover the tin with foil. Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees for 15 minutes. Then remove the foil and cook for another 15-20 minutes.



Serving the moussaka.
Before serving, the musaka should cool (if you have the patience): a little warm or cold, it is perfectly cut into portioned pieces.

Other moussaka recipes. What Moussaka may include

Vegetables. Some recipes for Greek moussaka include potatoes, which must be prepared in the same way as courgettes (chopped and fried or baked). It is usually placed in the base of the casserole to stabilize the multi-layer structure. The presence of potatoes does not particularly affect the taste, but also high-calorie dish with potatoes it becomes even more satisfying and more nutritious.

Ground meat. V classic recipes Moussaki uses minced lamb or a mixture of minced lamb and beef, but if you like pork and beef, then cook with it.

Sauce. For the base of the sauce, you can use not only wheat flour, but also corn flour (bechamel with corn flour is a pure improvisation, and it is very tasty and unusual).

You can make a portioned mini-moussaka: cut the eggplants in half lengthwise, carefully remove some of the pulp, and blanch the boat in salted water; fry the minced meat with the pulp removed, tomato slices, chopped onions and seasonings; put the minced meat in the boat, pour the sauce on top (from yogurt or béchamel); fold into a mold, pour in some water and bake in the oven.

Classic Greek Moussaka Recipe

Perhaps this moussaka recipe should have started, since it is considered basic. Includes, in addition to eggplant, potatoes. Nutmeg is part of both minced meat and bechamel.

(for 7 people)

Ingredients

For the base

• 3 kg potatoes
• 2 kg eggplant
• 1/2 liter olive oil

For minced meat

• 850 grams ground beef
• 1 onion
• 2 fresh tomatoes
• 2 glasses of water
• salt and pepper
• 2/3 cup olive oil

For the béchamel sauce

• 5-6 tablespoons flour
• 250 grams of butter
• 400 grams of baked milk
• 800 grams of water - to dilute milk
• 40 grams of grated low-melting hard cheese
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg powder
• 2 tablespoons bread crumbs

How to make greek moussaka

1. Peel the potatoes and cut them into long, 2 cm thick slices.

2. Wash the eggplants and cut them into 2cm slices. Place the sliced ​​eggplants in salted water for 20 minutes to release the bitterness.

3. At medium temperature, fry the potatoes on both sides in olive oil, then the eggplants.

4. To cook minced meat, grate 2 tomatoes and chop the onion finely.

5. Fry the onion in a saucepan, add minced meat to it and fry it for 7 minutes.

6. Add grated tomatoes, salt, pepper, nutmeg to a saucepan and pour 2 cups of water.

7. Cook the minced meat for about 45 minutes - until all the liquid has evaporated.

8. Once the potatoes, eggplant and minced meat are done, start filling the baking sheet. Place a layer of potatoes on the bottom and a layer of eggplant on top of it. Spread the minced meat on the eggplant. Put another layer of eggplant on top of the minced meat, and another layer of potatoes on top of the eggplant.

How to make bechamel with eggs

Dilute baked milk with water. Melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat. Once the butter has melted, add the flour to the pan - stirring the mixture constantly. Then add the nutmeg and egg yolks to the saucepan, then - very slowly - pour in the milk.

Turn up the heat. Remove the pan from the heat as soon as the mixture comes to a boil.

An alternative way of making bechamel is to slowly add grated cheese, stir until the desired thickness. Then you don't need to sprinkle cheese on top of the casserole.

Pour the prepared béchamel sauce over the top layer of the potato and sprinkle with grated cheese on top and bread crumbs.

Preheat the oven and bake at 200 degrees Celsius for about 1 hour 15 minutes, until the crust is lightly browned.

Recipe with potatoes and zucchini

It is generally accepted that eggplants are a part of the moussaka. But this is not a feature of all cuisines. In Romania and Serbia, tomatoes are used instead of eggplant. And in Bulgaria, the moussaka recipe provides for the formation of layers of potatoes and minced meat.

Ingredients for the recipe: eggplant - 4 medium, zucchini - 3 medium, potatoes - 2 medium, Bell pepper- 2, onion - 1, tomato - 4-5, garlic - 2 cloves, tomato paste- 1 tbsp. spoon, ground beef - 500 g, spices (cumin, nutmeg, salt, pepper, coriander, thyme, oregano), fresh parsley, olive oil, parmesan - 70 g, bread crumbs.

Cooking. Cut the eggplants and zucchini into slices, place in a colander and season generously with salt. Cover with a lid and press down with a weight to drain the liquid. Leave it on for 20 minutes. Then fry in olive oil until light brown. Remove excess oil with kitchen paper.

Boil the potatoes in their uniforms. Peel and cut into slices no more than 5 mm thick. Fry finely chopped onions, chopped peppers (remove the seeds first) until soft and slightly brown. Add 1 clove of garlic, squeezed through a press. Fry the ground beef in a skillet and season with spices, pepper and salt.

Make tomato sauce... Peel the tomatoes, cut into small pieces, mix with the pasta and 1 clove of garlic. Season to taste and simmer over low heat until thickened.
Combine bread crumbs with finely chopped parsley, finely grated cheese and spices.

Lay out in layers: first - a layer of potatoes, sprinkle with breadcrumbs, then a layer of minced meat, then a layer of eggplant, pour half of the tomato sauce and put the fried onions and peppers, sprinkle with breadcrumbs with herbs and cheese, then a layer of zucchini, pour over the rest tomato sauce and sprinkle with cheese.

Bake at 180C for about 30 minutes. Cover with foil for the first 10 minutes. Let cool for 15-20 minutes before serving.

Vegetarian moussaka without eggplant

Moussaka is a terribly high-calorie dish. And at the same time delicious. Those who don't eat meat will love the vegetarian casserole recipe. To be precise, this is a meatless moussaka, but with eggs and dairy products, that is, a moussaka for lacto-ovo vegetarians.

Ingredients for the recipe: carrots - 250 g, celery - 1 root (about 100 g), onions - 2, olive oil, potatoes - 5, green beans - 500 g, rice - 0.5 cups, eggs - 4, milk - 0.5 -0.75 cups.

Making moussaka for vegetarians

Chop or grate carrots and celery finely. Fry in oil until soft with finely chopped onions. Boil in uniforms, peel and coarsely grate potatoes. Cook the beans and rice separately. Cut the beans into small pieces. Lay in layers in a mold, starting with the potatoes.

Make a sauce with milk and eggs, salt and add your favorite spices. You can do and classic bechamel... Pour over the vegetables (shake the pan a little so that the sauce reaches all the layers).
Bake for 20 minutes at 200 degrees. Cut the cooled moussaka into squares or rectangular pieces. You can serve with sour cream.

1. Boil the peeled potatoes until half cooked. Cut into medium-sized circles.

2. Cut the peeled eggplants into slices. Salt, leave for 30 minutes, then rinse and dry.

3. Pour boiling water over the tomatoes, hold for 3 minutes, drain the water, peel the skin. Cut the pulp into half rings.

4. Chop the onion. Fry in vegetable oil until transparent.

5. Add minced meat to the onion, mix, fry over medium heat for 10 minutes.

6. Add the tomatoes to the pan. Season with salt, pepper, mix. Simmer for 5 minutes.

7. Cooking béchamel sauce. Melt the butter. Add flour to hot oil, then stir until smooth. Pour milk in a thin stream, stirring constantly. The consistency should be uniform. Beat eggs with salt and nutmeg. Mix with dairy-flour mass.

8. Grease the baking dish vegetable oil... Grate the cheese on a fine grater.

9. Put potatoes on the bottom of the mold. Season with salt and pepper. Lay out the minced meat.

10. Top with eggplant, sprinkle with cheese, chopped herbs. Pour over the sauce prepared in step 7.

Moussaka is ready to bake

11. Preheat oven to 200 ° C. Place a baking sheet with moussaka, bake for 45-50 minutes at 190 ° C.

12. Ready dish remove from the oven, leave to cool for 20-30 minutes, then cut into portions.

Step 1: Prepare the potatoes.

Peel the potatoes and rinse thoroughly. Use a sharp knife to cut the root vegetable into slices and spread the thin slices on a paper towel to remove excess moisture.
Heat a small amount of vegetable oil in a skillet and fry the potatoes until golden brown.

Step 2: Prepare the eggplant.

Rinse the eggplants just as well and cut off the tail. Chop vegetables into thin slices and pat dry with towels in the same way as potatoes. Then fry the eggplant slices until golden brown. You do not need to cut off the peel.

Step 3: Prepare the tomatoes.

Rinse the tomatoes warm water and cut into small cubes. Don't squash them and don't forget to cut out where the ponytail used to be.

Step 4: Prepare the onion.

Before peeling, cut the onion in half, as practice shows, it is easier to peel off the husk from the halves. Chop the clean onion as fine as possible.

Step 5: Prepare the garlic.

Peel a clove of garlic and chop it in any way convenient for an hour: rub, chop or pass through a special press.

Step 6: Prepare the minced meat.

Heat vegetable oil in a pan and fry the garlic and onion along with the minced meat over high heat for 5 minutes, then reduce heat and extinguish more 10 minutes... Do not forget to stir with a specially designed spatula! After the minced meat is brown and the onion is clear, add the desired spices and chopped tomatoes to the pan. Put out some more 15 minutes... All water must be rectified.

Step 7: Prepare the fill.

While the minced meat is roasting, you have time to prepare the pot. So take a small skillet and melt the specified amount of butter in it. Fry the flour in butter for 1-2 minutes stirring all the time. And then gradually add milk, the sauce should have a thick consistency, as soon as it becomes such, remove it from the stove and cool slightly. Then add the egg, seasonings to the filling and grate about half of the cheese you have.

Step 8: Cooking moussaka with potatoes.

Put the potatoes in a dish greased with vegetable oil, it forms a crispy base for our casserole, put half of the prepared eggplants on the potatoes, and pour half of the minced meat on top, repeat two more layers in the same way. Pour the prepared creamy cheese sauce over the raw moussaka and send to the preheated until 180 degrees oven on 45 minutes... Per 10-15 minutes until tender, sprinkle the remaining grated cheese on the casserole until it is covered with a delicious brown crust.
Remove the finished moussaka from the oven and let it rest. 10 minutes then cut into portions and serve.

Step 9: Serve the moussaka with potatoes.

Serve musaka with potatoes with sour cream or tomato sauce, you can season fresh tomatoes or greens. Of course, no additional garnish is needed.
Bon Appetit!

You can also bake potatoes and eggplants in the oven. Just put them on a wire rack and bake, brushing them with vegetable oil, 10-15 minutes.

Sometimes only the yolk is used to prepare the filling.

Some recipes also add carrots to moussaka.