Grilled Eggplant Moussaka

Here is a recipe I took from allrecipes.com and modified a little. It makes 8 servings, so you’ll need two 9×13 glass baking dishes.

Ingredients:

  • 1/4 cup and 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup and 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1/4 cup and 1 tablespoon butter
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 5 ounces feta cheese
  • 5 cups milk
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1-1/2 pounds ground beef
  • 4 eggplant
  • 1/2 cup fresh parsley
  • 1 onions
  • 2-1/2 pounds potatoes
  • 5 tomatoes
  • 2-1/4 pounds zucchini

My Notes:

I only have one kind of olive oil on any given day. Extra-virgin or not, it makes no difference to me.

Directions:

Slice eggplant into 1/4 inch rounds, slice potatoes into thin (1/8 inch) rounds, slice zucchini length-wise about 1/4 inch slices. Brush with olive oil.

Grill the eggplant, potato, zucchini until tender. Heat the grill to high heat before laying on the vegetables. As grill comes up to temperature, rub the grate with half an onion that has some olive oil on the cut surface. The vegetables won’t stick to the grill grate, and they’ll have great grill marks. In the baking dishes, layer potato, then eggplant, then zucchini. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

Melt butter in pan, mix in flour, and toast mixture for 5 minutes. Mix in milk, nutmeg and salt. Simmer for 10 minutes. Slowly whisk together the egg yolk and 1/4 cup of the milk mixture in a bowl. Quickly combine this mixture with the remaining milk mixture. Set aside.

Brown the ground meat and drain the grease. Add onion, oregano, parsley, tomatoes, salt and pepper. Cover and heat on medium-low for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Spread the meat mixture over the vegetables, sprinkle feta cheese on top, then spread milk mixture on top of that. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes. It should be golden brown on top when it’s done.