Moussaka and Other Meat Casseroles

     Moussaka, like paella, is misperceived in America, but in an opposite way.
     Most Americans think that paella can be made with any kind of rice and is either baked, or cooked on the stove. Yet Penelope Casas, the authority on Spanish cooking, insists that it be made with short-grained rice only, and baked in the traditional Spanish way.
     Concerning moussaka, we tend to have a single image of the dish. Many Americans think of it as greasy. But in its Middle East homeland many versions exist, and the dish need not be greasy at all.
     Most of us would venture that moussaka has three essential ingredients: lamb, eggplant, and a white sauce. None of the three is essential for moussaka. In addition, the very name is not Greek, but arabic. (Yeah, but nothing is simple in Middle East history, and the Greeks may have originated the dish that later became a favorite throughout the Middle East, according to Claudia Roden; see Bookstore.)
     The meat sauce may be lamb, beef, or veal. The vegetable may be eggplant, zucchini, potatoes, or all three. And the sauce on top may be white sauce, yogurt custard, or mashed potatoes(!). We are thus free to select a combination that we particularly like.

The Road to Moussaka

Stage One
     Your first benefit on the road to moussaka is the admirable meat sauce, the heart of the dish, called saltsa kima. Even if you go no further that this, you have a general purpose meat sauce that goes well with pasta in a weekday supper. This takes an hour, but is worth it, and the sauce only improves with freezing. 

Stage One: Meat Sauce for Pasta
Saltsa Kima

     Greeks use saltsa kima over macaroni, or stirred into it. This meat sauce is thus suitable for any short pasta, but not for spaghetti, as it is not oily enough to coat the strands.
     Note that the meat is not limited to lamb, but may be ground beef or veal. Choice of meat makes surprisingly little difference, as the seasoning is so distinctive. Onions, garlic, red wine, and tomatoes contribute, plus the Asian overtones of cinnamon and bay leaf. Talk about special flavors.
     Flavor improves with overnight refrigeration. The sauce will also get thicker, desirable for any casserole or moussaka. It freezes for several months. We make a quantity and use as desired over pasta, in a simple moussaka-like casserole, or even in lasagna.
     This is a traditional recipe in which onions are started in water, with oil added later. (See Richard Olney comment on Sweating in Liquid in Onion Section.)
    Adapted from Vilma Chantiles, The Food of Greece (see Bookstore).

Serves 4, makes about 4 cups

     Finely chop the onion in a food processor. Place onion in saucepan. Moisten with water and bring rapidly to the simmer. Simmer briskly, stirring, 3 minutes, softening the onion slightly.
     Stir in butter or oil. Simmer a few minutes, stirring, until onion is translucent and loses its raw taste.
     Stir in ground meat. Cook at medium heat, stirring and breaking meat apart thoroughly with a fork, until all raw color has disappeared. This should take 5 to 10 minutes.
Stir in garlic and wine, cover, and simmer 5 minutes. Stir a couple of times.

Parsley for cooking, 3-4 tablespoons
Basil, fresh, if available

     Drain canned tomatoes and reserve juices.
     Stir tomatoes into the meat. Stir in tomato paste, sugar, cinnamon, and bay leaf. Cover, bring to simmer, and simmer steadily 30 minutes. Stir up from the bottom periodically.
    At 5 minute point check the liquid. There may be quite a bit. Spoon off as much liquid as possible, and reserve for possible later addition.
     As cooking progresses, add reserved juices or water if necessary to keep moist. At the end the sauce should be thick, but it should be moist along the way. (If making a casserole or moussaka, see note below.)
     Add parsley and basil the last 10 to 15 minutes.
     Remove cinnamon stick before serving.

Thick Meat Sauce for Casserole

     A pasta sauce should be relatively thin, thus rather moist during cooking. But for a casserole or moussaka, you want a sauce as thick as possible.
     To make a thick sauce, use the Red Sea test in Tomato Sauce Section. (At the start of cooking, drain liquid and reserve. To detect when to add back liquid, scrape a spoon across the bottom of the pan. If you see a dry path, with a little liquid seeping into the open space, it is time to add some more liquid.)
     At the end there should be no free moisture.

Stage 2: Eggplant and Meat Casserole
Kima Fournou

     Restaurants sometimes serve a "moussaka" without the white sauce. This should properly be called kima fournou, or ground meat casserole.
     A saltsa kima meat sauce is sandwiched between layers of cooked eggplant, topped with a simple tomato sauce, and baked until heated through. It is clearly an ancestor of moussaka.
     The meat sauce is preferably made the day ahead, so that it will thicken overnight in the refrigerator.
     The tomato topping takes only 15 minutes to make, and can serve generally as an emergency tomato sauce. Or, use your own favorite general purpose tomato sauce.
     The dish may be cooked well ahead, and suffers little from refrigeration overnight.

To cook sliced eggplant

2 eggplants, 1 pound each
Kettle with steaming basket

     Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
     Partially peel the eggplant by cutting ½ inch strips lengthwise, 4 or more. Cut eggplant into 1/3 or ½ inch slices, circles or lengthwise. Salt ½ hour or longer to drain liquid.
     Steam eggplant slices in steaming basket one layer at a time. Steam until soft and delicious, 4 to 8 minutes, depending on the eggplant. The smaller slices from the stem end will take longer to cook than the larger slices. Do not overcook as the slices should keep their general shape. However, all need not be perfect since most are buried in the casserole.

Tomato sauce

     Start with a thin layer of meat sauce in the bottom of the unoiled baking dish.
     Add a layer of eggplant, then meat sauce. Repeat if your dish is small, ending with an eggplant layer which fits snugly against the sides of the dish.
     Pour tomato sauce over the eggplant. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and toast crumbs.
     Bake until slightly crusted and golden, about 25 minutes.

Stage 3: Moussaka with Mashed Potatoes
Special Flavors Favorite

     If the tomato sauce above is replaced by a white topping sauce of some kind, then the dish would qualify, I should think, as a moussaka.
     For the topping sauce there are three possibilities: bechamel sauce, yogurt custard, and mashed potatoes.
     In our household we have settled on a thin layer of fluffy mashed potatoes. The behamel sauce masks the distinctive flavor of the meat sauce. The yogurt custard is fine when it works, but we have not been able to make it work perfectly every time. (A yogurt custard for moussaka is described in Paula Wolfert, The Cooking of the Eastern Mediterranean, see Cookbook Section).
     Note that this use of mashed potatoes is not a British invention. These are used in Greece, as made clear by Chantiles.
     The casserole is simple to prepare, and provides a one-dish meal. It is fine left over.
     This is moister than Greek moussaka, as no egg or bread crumbs are added to the meat sauce. As with the casserole above, the meat sauce is preferably made a day ahead.

Serves six

In recipe above, omit: tomato sauce

Add:
Fluffy mashed potatoes, small amount to cover, say 4 ounces
Butter
Bulb baster

     Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
     Prepare fluffy mashed potatoes. (Microwave is quickest, see Microwave Recipes.)
     Before baking, spread mashed potatoes in a 1/8 or ¼ inch layer over the top layer of eggplant in the baking dish. Dot with butter.
     Bake until heated through. If ingredients are warm, this should be about 30 minutes. If from refrigerator, 1 hour.
     During baking, juices will form. Drain these with the bulb baster and reserve. In latter stages of baking, distribute some over the mashed potatoes.
     Top should be lightly browned, and juices bubbling.
     (If end of cooking time is approaching, and top does not look like it is going to brown, turn heat up to 375 or 400 degrees F.)

Variations
     When juices bubble, spoon up some onto the top and let brown. Turn oven up the last 15 minutes for more browning.

Stage 4: Ceremonial Greek Moussaka

     The complete moussaka, as described by most cookbooks, is similar to the recipe preceding, with a few exceptions. The mashed potatoes, of course, are replaced by a bechamel sauce. Eggs and bread crumbs are mixed into the meat sauce. Bread crumbs are spread on the bottom of the dish, also on the white sauce. Greek cheeses mizithra and kefalotyri are grated and stirred into the white sauce, and are also sprinkled on top.
     I made the dish once in this form. It is a great deal of work. Also the bread crumbs and eggs, to our taste, dilute the flavor of the meat sauce. You must be prepared for very salty cheeses.