Mousaka

I have only had this once as far as I know but it was a memorable meal. It was one of our rare catered iftars at Wellesley and the mousaka was from a local halal restaurant. Delicious. I haven't seen it in any halal places around here so I thought might as well try to make it myself. I was actually flipping through a cookbook of recipes from local restaurants in Charleston, SC that I had bought when me and my hubby went there for a weekend back in January (I know, vacation in Jan?! Don't remind me.) There was a recipe for mousaka and it actually has lots of things my husband and I both like - ground beef, eggplant, potatoes. Mmmm. It's probably not a lactose intolerant's ideal food, but we all have to make sacrifices. :)

Mousaka - Greek Eggplant Casserole
by Old Town Restaurant, 229 King St., Charleston, SC
Servings: 10-12

Ingredients:
1 1/2 lbs ground beef
1 clove minced garlic
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 chopped onions
large handful of chopped parsley
4 tbsp butter
1 cup tomato sauce
1 tsp sugar
2 medium eggplants
8 medium potatoes
5 medium zucchini
vegetable oil
grated Romano cheese
1 recipe cream sauce (see below)

Directions:
1. Slice eggplants, potatoes, and zucchini. Fry or brush with oil and broil until golden.
2. Add garlic, salt and pepper to ground beef. Cook slowly until meat is done.
3. Add chopped onions, parsley, and butter. Brown well.
4. Add tomato sauce, sugar and 1 cup water. Simmer until thickened, about 15 minutes.
5. Preheat oven to 350.
6. In a 9" X 13" baking pan, begin layering potatoes, then zucchini, and then eggplant. Pour meat sauce evenly over vegetables. Top with a layer of cream sauce. Sprinkle liberally with grated cheese.
7. Bake for 30 minutes.


For Cream sauce:
6 tbsp butter
6 tbsp flour
3 cups of milk
5 egg yolks

Melt butter in pan. Add flour and stir until light brown. Add milk gradually, stirring constantly until slightly thickened. Slowly add egg yolks and cook over very low heat until thick. Season with salt and pepper to taste.