Lamb moussaka

Lamb moussaka

This was a really delicious meal, and so easy to make. Its found in the Everyday cooking for Thermomix families cookbook/chip. The kids loved it. One thing I would probably do differently is make it in advance - maybe at lunch time, and reheat it at dinner time. I found that when I sliced it, it ran everywhere and it was quite difficult to get out of the dish and onto the plate. The next day however, when I had it for lunch as leftovers, it was perfect.

Building the layers

The eggplant is steamed in the varoma first, then it is put aside and the mince is then steamed in the varoma as well. This surprised me, it is something I would not have thought of doing before. But it is a good way to get a large amount of mince cooked, and without risking mincing it into a fine pulp in the bowl, which is easy to do with shop bought mince. The sauce for the mince mixture is made in the bowl, with the mince in the varoma to steam it as it cooks. At the end it just gets mixed through quickly to combine it, so the mince is still a bit chunky.

Bechamel and parmesan topping

The béchamel topping is then made. I really liked this béchamel, it didn't have a floury taste which you can sometimes get if the flour isn't cooked off enough. It was lovely and smooth. I added a little bit of dijon mustard as well for a bit of a different flavour.

Baked moussaka

Once all that is done, its a simple matter of building it just like you would a lasagne. Using eggplant is great for people that are trying to avoid eating too many grains, a great alternative to pasta sheets. Of course there is a bit of flour in the béchamel, but not a huge amount.

Happy thermomixing!