Recipe - Moussaka (Eggplant And Meat With Custard)

4 Eggplants, large
1 Salt
1 Flour for coating
One half cup Oil, vegetable
MEAT SAUCE
2 tablespoon Butter
1 Onion, finely chopped
1 One half pound Beef, ground chuck
One half pound Pork, lean ground
1 tablespoon Salt
One half teaspoon Pepper
One fourth teaspoon Nutmeg
2 tablespoon Parsley, chopped
3 tablespoon Tomato sauce
1 cup Wine, dry red
One half cup Water, boiling
2 Eggs
1 cup Cheese, grated *
2 Toast, dry slices, grated
CREAM SAUCE
One fourth cup Butter
2 tablespoon Flour
One fourth cup Milk, cold
2 Three fourths cup Milk, warm
1 cup Cream, half and half
3 Eggs, whole
3 Eggs, yolks only
1 teaspoon Salt
One half teaspoon Nutmeg, grated
1/3 cup Cheese, grated *
TOPPING
1/3 cup Cheese, grated *

* Cheese, Kefalotyri cheese is prefered, but if it is unavailable, Parmesan
or Romano may be substituted.

Peel eggplant and cut into One fourth inch slices. Salt both sides heavily, let
sit for 30 minutes. Pour cold water over eggplant and let sit for 10
minutes more. Squeeze the water out and blot dry with paper towels. The
natural bitterness will be gone. Coat the pieces with flour. Heat the
begetable oil in a skillet and fry eggplant until golden brown. Drain on
paper towels.

Saute the onion in butter, add the ground meat, and brown well. Add salt,
pepper, nutmeg, parsley, tomato sauce, wine and boiling water. Cover and
cook until the sauce thickens. Beat the eggs and add. Add cheese and half
the grated toast and mix well.

Grease a 12x10x3inch baking pan. Spread remaining half of toast crumbs
over bottom. Arrange half the eggplant over crumbs. Cover with meat sauce,
then sprinkle 2 Tb of cheese from topping over it. Cover this with the
remaining eggplant.

To make the cream sauce, melt butter in a saucepan. Make a paste of the
flour and cold milk and add the flour paste, warm milk and cream to the
pan. Blend until smooth and simmer about 15 minutes. Remove from flame and
add beaten eggs while stirring the sauce vigorously. Stir in the salt,
nutmeg, and 1/3 cup cheese. Pour over the eggplant dish. Sprinkle top with
remaining chese. Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes. Let the dish stand
for 20 minutes before serving.

From Gemini's MASSIVE MealMaster collection at www.synapse.com/~gemini