Name: Moussaka
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 2 h
Total time: 2 h 30 min
Yield: 8
Cuisine: Greek
Ingredients: 2 pounds ground lamb or beef; 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil; 1 onion, chopped; 4 garlic cloves, chopped; 1 teaspoon allspice; 1 teaspoon cinnamon; 1 teaspoon black pepper; 1 tablespoon dried oregano; 2 tablespoons tomato paste; 1/2 cup red wine; Zest of 1 lemon; 2 tablespoons lemon juice, or more to taste; Salt to taste; 1 stick unsalted butter; 1/2 cup flour; 1 teaspoon salt; 4 cups whole milk; 4 egg yolks; 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg; 3 large globe eggplants; 1/2 cup salt; 8 cups water; 2 to 3 Yukon gold or other yellow potatoes; 1 cup grated mizithra (or pecorino or Parmesan) cheese; Extra virgin olive oil

1 Heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat and brown the ground meat. By the way, the meat will brown best if you don't stir it. Add the onions about halfway into the browning process. Sprinkle salt over the meat and onions.

2 Once the meat is browned and the onions have softened, add the garlic, allspice, cinnamon, black pepper, oregano and tomato paste. Mix well and cook for 2-3 minutes.

3 Add the red wine and mix well. Bring the sauce to a simmer, reduce the heat, and continue to simmer gently, uncovered, for 20 minutes. Turn off the heat. Season with salt to taste.

4 Mix well and taste. If the sauce needs more acidity, add more lemon juice. Set the sauce aside.

5 Mix the 1/2 cup salt with the 8 cups of water in a large pot or container. This will be the brine for the eggplants.

6 Slice the top and bottom off the eggplants. Cut thick strips of the skin off the eggplants to give them a striped appearance. A little skin on the eggplant is good for texture, but leaving it all on makes the moussaka hard to cut later, and can add bitterness, which you don’t want. (Some moussaka recipes leave the skin on and have you slice the eggplants lengthwise, which is an option if you prefer.) Slice the eggplant into 1/4 inch rounds and drop them into the brine.

7 Let the eggplants sit in the brine 15-20 minutes, then remove them to a series of paper towels to dry. Place a paper towel on the counter, layer some eggplant on it, then cover with more paper towels and repeat.

8 As the eggplants are brining, peel and slice the potatoes into 1/4 inch rounds. Boil them in salted water for 5-8 minutes – you want them undercooked, but no longer crunchy. Drain and set aside.

9 To cook the eggplant, broil or grill the rounds. You could also fry the eggplant rounds but they tend to absorb a lot of oil that way. To grill the eggplant rounds, get a grill very hot and close the lid. Paint one side of the eggplant rounds with olive oil and grill 2-3 minutes. When they are done on one side, paint the other side with oil and flip. When the eggplants are nicely grilled, set aside. To broil, line a broiling pan or roasting pan with aluminum foil. Paint with olive oil. Place the eggplant rounds on the foil and brush with olive oil. Broil for 3-4 minutes until lightly browned on one side, then flip them over and broil for a few minutes more. Set aside.