Moussaka – Greek Eggplant, Potato, & Ground Lamb Casserole

• Preheat your oven to 350F.
• Grease the insides of your casserole dish lightly with sunflower seed oil and set aside.

For the Fried Eggplant & Potato Slices:

• Slice your peeled eggplants into slices that are roughly 3/16” in thickness.
• Salt both sides of the eggplant slices with kosher salt and allow to drain on paper towels for roughly 15 minutes.
• While the salted eggplants are draining, peel and slice your Yukon Gold potatoes.
• Add ¼ cup cooking olive oil to a large saute pan and wait until the oil is hot but not smoking.
• Fry your potato slices on both sides, until they arrive at a lovely golden-brown color.
• Remove the fried potato slices from the saute pan, and allow them to drain on paper towels on a sheet tray.
• Lightly salt the fried potato slices with kosher salt right when you pull them out of the oil and put them on the paper towels to drain.
• After the eggplant slices have drained for at least 15 minutes, when you are ready to start frying your eggplant, pat the salted eggplant slices completely dry with paper towels.
• Add the remaining olive oil to the saute pan and wait until the oil is hot, but before it is smoking.
• Gently fry the dried eggplant slices in the hot oil until they are golden-brown in color and completely cooked-through.
• Drain the fried eggplant slices on paper towels, and set aside with the fried potato slices for later.

For the Ground Lamb Cooked in Tomato Sauce:

• Salt the ground lamb with kosher salt.
• Heat ¼ cup cooking olive oil in a large saute pan until the oil is very hot.
• Sear the lamb briefly to give some dark brown color to some (but not all) of the ground lamb.
• Remove the partially-browned lamb to a bowl, reserving the olive oil and fat in the pan.
• Add the diced white onion and cook on medium-low heat until the onion is translucent.
• Add the red wine to the pan you are using to cook to onions.
• Add the garlic cloves, ground cumin, dried oregano, ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, tomato puree, and bay leaves to the pan and bring to a simmer.
• Add the browned ground lamb from earlier and cook for roughly 30 minutes on low heat.
• Use the back of a wooden spoon to break the ground lamb chunks into very small pieces while the mixture is cooking.
• Once the ground lamb is fully cooked and tender, remove the bay leaves and stir in the freshly-sliced mint and parsley.
• Taste the mixture and season with kosher salt and freshly-ground black pepper.
• When you are satisfied with the taste and consistency of the ground lamb and tomato sauce, set the mixture aside on very low heat while you prepare the parmesan bechamel sauce.
• *If you want a softer final product, you can slowly cook the ground lamb in the tomato puree for a few hours, but this is entirely optional.

For the Parmesan Bechamel Sauce:

• To prepare the parmesan bechamel sauce, heat 3 Tbsp of salted butter in a medium-sized sauce pot and add the 4 Tbsp all-purpose flour.
• Cook the mixture over medium heat, stirring consistently with a rubber spatula, until the mixture turns a light golden color and begins to smell like lightly-toasted nuts and brown butter.
• Slowly whisk in the whole milk in stages, incorporating each addition of milk slowly, until you arrive at your final desired bechamel consistency.
• Add the ground cumin, ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, and ground cayenne pepper.
• Stir in the freshly-grated parmesan cheese.
• Taste the parmesan bechamel mixture, and season with kosher salt and freshly-ground black pepper.
• When you are done cooking your parmesan bechamel sauce and are happy with the taste, you are ready to assemble your casserole.
• Begin by pouring roughly 30% of the bechamel sauce into the bottom of the greased casserole dish.
• Layer in your fried eggplant slices and fried potato slices, alternating between layers of eggplant and potatoes.
• Top with your ground lamb and tomato sauce mixture, spreading the meat and tomato sauce in an even layer on top of the eggplant and potato slices.
• Top with the remaining parmesan bechamel sauce.
• Bake in the oven at 350F for roughly 30-40 minutes, or until the bechamel sauce is bubbly and turning golden-brown on top.
• Remove casserole from the oven.
• Allow casserole to cool for 20 minutes before carefully cutting with a sharp knife and serving.
• Serve hot.