Simple Moussaka

There are many, many ways to make moussaka. But there is a simple, basic way that requires no fancy ingredients or special skills and this was what Tyler (18) made tonight.

First he took two pounds of ground beef, browned it, and poured off the fat for the barn cats. YOU may have to dispose of it another way, just don't pour it down the sink, it'll block your pipes up.

Then in the the meat/residual fat he sautéed two large onions (finely diced).

He then added 1 tsp black pepper, 1 tablespoon dried oregano, and 2 tablespoons crushed garlic.

He then used the secret CHEAT ingredient: Lamb Oxo cubes. If we had lamb, we'd use that instead of beef, but we don't yet, so we did this. You can buy it on Amazon, if you can't get it locally. But it's not the end of the world if you leave it out.

Then he added 2 litres of tomato sauce and covered it, leaving it to simmer while he did the rest.

He pre-heated the oven to 175C. Then he sliced up two large eggplants and laid them out on three large cookie sheets, and baked them DRY (NO OIL) in the oven. This dries out the eggplant so it doesn't go soggy. You CAN sprinkle salt on it to draw out the moisture (makes it salty) or you can fry it (makes it greasy). We find this method works better. They are ready when they start to turn brown.

Then he made the sauce. There are several ways to do this. He grated half a bar of old cheddar. Then he beat 4 eggs with 1/2 litre of cream, and added the cheese.

Right.

So, he got a deep lasagne dish. He put 1/3 of the baked eggplant slices on the bottom, then half the meat sauce, then 1/3 eggplant, 1/2 the meat sauce, 1/3 the eggplant then poured the cheese and egg sauce over the top.

He baked this at 175C for 20 minutes, and served it with a mixed salad.

Twas good.