Assemble your Traditional Greek Moussaka!
Now that your vegetables, your béchamel and your meat sauce are ready it’s time to assemble your dish! Firstly, pick the deepest baking dish that you have at hand to make sure you can use all your meat sauce and béchamel without fear that it won’t fit and spill over! For my recipe below a 20x30cm/8x12inch and 8cm/3 inch deep baking dish is ideal.
To assemble your Moussaka, start by layering your potatoes at the bottom of your baking dish. Split your aubergines in two lots. You’ll need the first lot to layer over the potatoes and the second lot to cover the meat sauce. Spread the first layer of aubergines over your potatoes. If you have too few aubergines space them out a bit. If you have too many, overlap them a bit so they all fit!
Using a large ladle or spoon, pour your meat sauce over your aubergines and spread it evenly. Spread your second aubergine layer over the meat sauce, spacing them out evenly. Finally using a large ladle add the béchamel and spread it out evenly, making sure your whole moussaka is covered!
Finally sprinkle a bit of grated cheese on top. When your moussaka is baked, the cheese will melt and give it a delicious golden brown color! Your traditional Greek Moussaka is now ready to bake or to store it in the fridge and bake it later!
Preparing your Moussaka in advance
There are three ways to prepare your Moussaka in advance. You can bake it and reheat it, store it in the fridge unbaked and bake it on the day or bake it from frozen.
Bake and reheat: This is the way to go if you are short on time on the day you want to serve your moussaka. Bake it the day before, let it cool down, wrap it in cling film and store in the fridge. When you want to serve it, just pop it in the oven for 30 minutes at 150C / 300F to reheat.
Bake on the day: This is the way to go if you want your moussaka to be piping hot and fresh for your big day! When you have assembled your moussaka, let it cool down, wrap it with cling film and store it in the fridge uncooked. Then go ahead and bake it on the day for about 1 hour at 180C/350F.
Bake from frozen: This is the way to go if you want to bake and serve your moussaka more than a couple of days later. When you have assembled your moussaka and it has fully cooled down, wrap it in cling film and store it in the freezer uncooked. Be careful to store it flat so the bechamel doesn’t pour out! It will keep for up to a month and be just as fresh when baked and served! To serve, heat up your oven to 180C/350F and bake it for about 1 hour 30 minutes, until it’s cooked through.
Moussaka leftovers: If you just have some leftovers that you’d like to keep for more than a couple of days, cut them up in individual portions and store them in airtight containers in the freezer. To serve them, pop them in the oven for about 45 minutes at 150C/300F until they have defrosted and heated up throughout.
Tip: You can use a kitchen knife to check if your Moussaka has defrosted. Poke the center of your piece/tray with your knife, pick out some of the meat sauce and check if it is piping hot.
Moussaka – How One Of Greece’s Most Traditional Dishes Is Made
What is moussaka made of?
Moussaka is a layered oven casserole dish made with vegetables and meat. The most well-known version of moussaka is made with layers of eggplant slices, cheese, and a meat sauce, topped with a thick béchamel sauce; however, other favorites call for potatoes, zucchini, or a combination of vegetables.
What is moussaka & how do you make it?
Moussaka is a traditional Greek eggplant casserole made with baked or pan fried eggplants (aubergines) and potatoes, a rich, tomatoey beef or lamb mince sauce and topped off with a deliciously creamy bechamel sauce. In other words, the ultimate comfort food. This is my very best, traditional Moussaka recipe as passed on to me by my grandmother.
Is moussaka a low-carb food?
Moussaka is to the Greek what Lasagna is to Italians. A rich tomato meat sauce layered with eggplant instead of pasta sheets, and topped with a thick layer of béchamel sauce, this traditional Greek recipe takes time to assemble – but it’s well worth the effort! This is serious comfort food – a low carb one at that!
What is a moussaka meat sauce?
In essence, a Moussaka meat sauce is very similar to a basic Bolognese sauce. The ground meat is sautéed in olive oil, onions and garlic. It is then deglazed with some red wine and, finally, it is simmered with chopped tomatoes until thickened. But there are also some key differences.