This traditional Greek comfort dish is essentially a fancy potato eggplant lasagna. It’s a red wine infused labor of love, and honestly it is completely worth it. When I think of Greece, I’m usually dreaming of feta cheese while lounging seaside, but this dish has opened up my vision of Greek food. It’s everything that a European comfort dish should be.
I will admit that I starred at my screen for a solid 30 minutes before deciding to post this recipe. Why you ask? I get caught in this tangled web, the notion of making something perfect. I heard this quote once that I’ll never forget… “Don’t polish the doorknob so much that you forget to walk through the door.” To put it in the most simple of ways, the more you create things… the less pressure you put on yourself. The more you create things, the better they will become.
Moussaka Layers
- 1st Layer: Sliced potatoes. Remove the peel and slice yukon potatoes about 1/2 centimeter thick. Toss in olive oil and sea salt.
- 2nd Layer: Slice eggplant. Slice eggplant about 1/2-1 centimeter thick. To remove any bitterness, I recommend rinsing eggplant, seasoning in some salt, and wrapping in some paper towel. This will remove the any bitterness and expel any extra liquid in eggplant, which they are known to retain. This will ensure that your Moussaka doesn’t have any extra liquid. With that being said, often I skip this step and my Moussaka still tastes amazing.
- 3rd Layer: Gently sauté onions, then add garlic and minces shiitake mushrooms. Add crumbled tofu and seasonings (thyme, cinnamon, coriander, salt, black pepper) and cook additional 3-4 minutes. Add tomato paste, tomato sauce, bay leaf, red wine, and vegetable broth- simmer for 15-20 minutes.
- 4th Layer: Béchamel Sauce: Prepare roux by melting butter in a pan over low heat. Add sifted flour and aggressively stir with wooden spoon until no clumps. Slowly add warm plant milk, aggressively stir until smooth. Add nutmeg, salt, black pepper, turmeric, and flax meal. Taste for salt and pepper.
Vegan Béchamel Sauce
If you have dove into French cuisine for even 5 minutes, you are sure to hear of the “Five Mother Sauces”. The traditionally french staple sauces. Béchamel is a white roux with milk, and in Greek culture nutmeg and salt. In this vegan version I also add in one of my all time favorite ingredients nutritional yeast. The nutritional yeast adds a nutty/cheese hint to this sauce that goes amazing with this dish.
