Moussaka

MOYSSAKA

The recipe below is for making a big moussaka. This moussaka is enough for about 15 people.
Use a large and deep pan with dimensions 31X41 X 6 cm.

Ingredients for the meat
1500 grams of ground beef
1 medium onion
80 grams olive oil
4 large ripe tomatoes
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste

Ingredients for the basis of the moussaka
1 kg large potatoes
4 large round eggplants
Salt to taste
80 grams olive oil

Ingredients for the white sauce (Bechamel)
2.5 liters of milk 3.5% fat
180 grams of margarine
200 grams all- purpose flour

How to cook the meat
Put 80 grams olive oil in a medium saucepan.
Place the saucepan on moderate heat.
Chop the onions and put them in the pan to cook.
Stir occasionally, until tender.
Place ground beef in the saucepan.
Leave cinced meat to warm up slowly to down fluids.  
Pellets form as ground beef boils in it's liquid.
Crack pellets and stir them often.
Cook for 20 minutes.
Wash the tomatoes and cut them in pieces.
Place the pieces in food prossecor to chope them.
Put the chopped tomatoes in the pan and stir them.
Continue to cook until most liquid absorbed.   
Remove saucepan from heat and leave it aside.

Bechamel
Put a small pot on medium heat and pour 2.5 l milk in.
Heat the pot until milk boils.
Let the pot with the boiling milk on a tip, to use later.
Place 180 grams margarine in another pot.
Place this pot on low heat.
Stir margarine until melted.
Shift 200 grams flour directly into margarine.
As flour burns easily, do not live pot unattended.
Stir constantly.
When the flour is cooked, its color becomes darker.
Pore one by one cup all the hot milk into the flour.
Stir constantly trying to avoid lumping.
If lumps form, use hand blender to homogenize the crème.
The crème sticks very easily, you must keep stirring.
When crème thickens, remove it from heat.
Over boiling tightens it.
Leave it on a tip to use later.

Basis of moussaka
Rinse eggplant and remove the stem.
Cut each eggplant lengthwise into 5 or 6 slices.
Each slice has the exact shape of an eggplant.
The thickness of each slice must be a little less than one centimeter.
Add very little salt on slices.
Dip a brush in olive oil and smear each slice on both sides.
Smear a shallow baking pan with olive oil.
Put the slices in that pan next to each other.
Pizza pans are suitable for baking the eggplants intended for moussaka.
Usually you need two pans to place all the slices of eggplants.
Peel and wash the potatoes.
Cut the potatoes into slices half a centimeter in thickness.
The slices should be as big as possible.
So look at the shape of each potato and cut slices depending widthwise or lengthwise.
Salting each slice lightly and smear it with olive oil on both sides.
Smear a third shallow pan with olive oil.
Put the slices of potatoes in that pan next to each other.
First stage of the furnace bottom put the pan with the potatoes.
Middle stage of the furnace put one pan with sliced eggplants and the other pan put it on top.
Heat the oven at 175 degrees Celsius turning on the air.
That way you can cook simultaneously the slices of potatoes and eggplants.
15 minutes cooking is enough to soften the eggplant at the first pan on top.
Pull it out from the oven and let the eggplants cool.
Bake 5 more minutes and the eggplants in the second pan get tender and beige colored.
Pull the second pan out of the oven and leave to cool.
The potatoes need to be baked longer.
Potatoes are ready when are nearly tender and lightly colored.
Pull the pan with potatoes from the oven and leave to cool.

Assembling moussaka
Smear lightly the deep baking pan with olive oil.
Place the cooked slices of potatoes next to each other.
Spread the cooked ground beef uniformly over the potatoes all over the pan.
Place the cooked eggplants over the meat next to each other.
Spread the Bechamel sauce evenly over the eggplants.
First stage of the furnace bottom put the pan with moussaka.
Cook at 200 degrees Celsius for about an hour.
Moussaka is ready when its surface is lightly browned.  
Moussaka should not be cut hot.
Moussaka thickens when cooled and then cut easily.
Because this recipe makes big  moussaka make it when you have invited a lot of people.
Do only half dose when you have fewer people
You can make two smaller moussakas  instead of a big one.
Cook one and the other one put it in the freezer uncooked.
When you want to bake frozen moussaka you must first thaw.
You can put zucchini instead of potatoes in the basis of moussaka.
Then moussaka has three layers. 
The first layer is zucchini. The second layer is cooked ground beef and the third layer is cooked eggplants.
The surface of moussaka is cover with Bechamel sauce.
Sprinkle the sauce on top with a little grated cheese.