In a cooking rut? Try one of these taste-tested, family-approved recipes using ground beef.
Vegetarian Moussaka
- add review
- #55224
serves/makes:
ready in:
1-2 hrs
1-2 hrs
2 reviews
ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup onion, chopped
1 cup mushrooms, chopped
1 cup zucchini, chopped
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon oregano leaves, rubbed
1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped
2 tomatoes, seeded and chopped
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1/2 cup red wine
2 large eggplants, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch slices
2 cups milk
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
1 cup ricotta cheese
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup seasoned breadcrumbs
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
directions
Heat olive oil in a heavy saucepan over medium high heat. Saute onion 4-5 minutes until lightly browned. Stir in mushrooms and zucchini and saute 2 minutes.
Stir in next 6 ingredients and salt and pepper to taste. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally until most of liquid has evaporated. Remove from heat and set aside.
Turn on broiler. Arrange eggplant slices on an oiled broiler rack. Broil 3-4 minutes per side until browned. Set aside.
Make bechamel sauce by scalding milk in a heavy saucepan over medium high heat until tiny bubbles appear. Remove from heat.
Melt butter in a heavy saucepan over medium heat until just bubbling. Do not brown. Slowly whisk in the flour, stirring constantly until smooth. Do not brown. Slowly whisk in hot milk, stirring constantly 2-3 minutes until mixture is thickened. Remove from heat. Stir in seasonings and set aside to cool slightly.
Beat ricotta cheese in a bowl until creamy. Gently fold ricotta into the bechamel sauce. Stir in beaten eggs until thoroughly incorporated.
Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9" x 13" inch baking pan and sprinkle the bottom with 2 Tbs. breadcrumbs.
Place a layer of eggplant in the pan. Spread a layer of tomato mixture over top. Sprinkle with breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese. Repeat layering as long as ingredients last.
Pour the ricotta sauce over the top and bake 1 hour, or until top is golden. Transfer moussaka to a wire rack and let stand 20-30 minutes before slicing.
added by
nutrition data
343 calories, 17 grams fat, 30 grams carbohydrates, 16 grams protein per serving.
Make your mornings a little less hectic with these overnight breakfast recipes. Prep the night before and enjoy a warm, comforting meal in the morning.
The name, vodka, comes from the Russian phrase zhiznennaia voda, or "water of life". It can be made from everything from potatoes to beets. It's considered to be fairly flavorless which makes it a great liquor for mixed drinks.
reviews & comments
May 3, 2011
This is just fabulous! I added chopped potatoes to the veggie mixture because I noticed other vegetarian moussaka recipes included it. I used full fat ricotta and milk because I was serving this to guests and I wanted them to feel like they were getting a treat even though there was no animal protein. I served it with a greek style green salad, kalamata olives and crusty rolls, and a good zinfandel. I didn't have any left! Next time I will probably make a bigger pan of it. This is definitely time consuming so making it early in the day and putting it in the oven 90 minutes before you want to serve it. Thanks for a great recipe.
January 26, 2007
Another winner! We opted for a vegetarian moussaka since we already had a meat item on our Greek menu. Because we were testing several recipes, we fully assembled this recipe and refrigerated it until it was time to bake it. Because of that, we did have to adjust the cooking time a little but otherwise the baking time listed should about right for a freshly assembled version. The seasonings and vegetable amounts were perfect and assembly was easy enough even though the separate steps do take some time (but it's worth it as far as we're concerned!).