Crete tourist guide

Components

• 3-4 aubergines
• 3 potatoes (optional)
• 0.7 kg of ground lamb or beef
• 1-2 onions
• around a glass of red wine
• 400 g tomatoes from cans or 5 larger grated fresh tomatoes
• olive oil

Spices:
• ½ teaspoon of cinnamon,
• 2 tablespoons of oregano
• ½ teaspoon of ground cloves,
• salt, pepper, a pinch of sugar
• (or mix for moussaka)

Bechamel sauce:
• 600 milk
• 85 g flour
• 85 g butter
• salt pepper,
• 25 g of grated hard cheese (eg Greek kefalotiri or Italian equivalent)
• 1 egg

1. Cut the eggplants into slices of centimeters thick, salt and leave for about half an hour. During this time, you can cook potatoes (if you plan to add them to moussaka), which then cut into quite thick slices.

2. After half an hour, rinse the aubergines with salt and juice and then dry thoroughly with a paper towel. Heat a little oil in a pan and fry aubergines slices from each side until they become soft. These vegetables will absorb any amount of oil, so do not overdo it with its quantity. Alternatively, you can add some water to the pan. Fried aubergines are drained from excess oil on paper towels.

3. Heat a little oil in a frying pan and fry diced onion. Then add minced meat and fry until browned, then add about a glass of wine. My experience with moussaka shows that it is better to add more wine than less, so I never measure the exact amount, but I pour so much that the meat absorbs a lot of the wine aroma.

4. Then add the chopped tomatoes and reliably season. Cook on a medium heat for about 20-25 minutes, stirring occasionally. Excess tomato water should evaporate.

5. At the time when the meat is fried, we start to prepare a bechamel sauce. In a saucepan with a thick bottom, melt the butter and add the flour. Mix quickly with a whisk and slowly gradually add milk while stirring. Season the sauce with nutmeg, salt and pepper and leave to cool. Add the egg and grated cheese to the cooled sauce and mix thoroughly.

6. Moussaka is a layered dish, and the order of arranging the ingredients is not accidental. The bottom of a large heat-resistant dish is laid out with aubergines or potatoes (if we use them). We put on a layer of meat and then eggplants. If you plan a larger amount of moussaka, then you can make more layers of meat and eggplants keeping in mind that there are always tightly arranged slices of eggplants on top. This will prevent lower layers from leaking béchamel, which is poured to the very top.

7. The amount of béchamel sauce is a matter of taste. I like it when there is more, because if it is well seasoned then its taste perfectly complements the taste of the dish. If you want to get a thicker layer of béchamel then simply increase the amount of ingredients during its preparation.

8. Bake moussaka at 180-190 degrees for about 45 minutes. If the béchamel sauce becomes golden brown, it means that the dish is ready.