Moussaka
Greece's great baked dish: layers of roasted aubergine and potato, a lamb and tomato sauce warmed with cinnamon and allspice, and a thick, golden béchamel enriched with egg yolks and kefalotyri cheese.
Servings
Ingredients
Nutrition
Per serving
Steps
Roast the vegetables
Heat the oven to 220°C (200°C fan). Brush the eggplant and potato slices with olive oil and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of salt. Lay them on trays and roast for about 30 minutes, turning once, until soft and golden.
Make the meat sauce
At the same time, fry the onion in 2 tablespoons of oil until soft. Add the garlic and lamb and cook until brown. Pour in the wine and let it bubble until almost gone. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, cinnamon, allspice, oregano and 1 teaspoon of salt.
Simmer
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Make the white sauce
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Assemble
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Bake and rest
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Roast the vegetables
Heat the oven to 220°C (200°C fan). Brush the eggplant and potato slices with olive oil and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of salt. Lay them on trays and roast for about 30 minutes, turning once, until soft and golden.
Make the meat sauce
At the same time, fry the onion in 2 tablespoons of oil until soft. Add the garlic and lamb and cook until brown. Pour in the wine and let it bubble until almost gone. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, cinnamon, allspice, oregano and 1 teaspoon of salt.
Simmer
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Make the white sauce
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Assemble
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Bake and rest
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The Story Behind the Dish
Layered aubergine dishes were cooked across the eastern Mediterranean and the Balkans for centuries, but moussaka as Greeks know it today was shaped in the 1920s by chef Nikolaos Tselementes. Trained in Europe, he crowned the dish with French-style béchamel.
His cookbook became so influential that "Tselementes" is still a Greek word for any cookbook.
⭐ Why It's Famous
It's the dish most people associate with Greek home cooking — a festive tray bake for name days and family gatherings.
💡 Fun Fact
Greek cooks often make moussaka the day before: it slices more cleanly and the spices taste even better once it has rested.
Greece
37.98°N, 23.73°E
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