Baked aubergine moussaka

Moussaka is a Greek recipe that’s bursting with flavour - I love to have this with a simple dressed salad with fresh cherry tomatoes and crisp raw fennel

Baked aubergine moussaka

SERVES

6

PEOPLE

PREP TIME

15

MINUTES

COOKING TIME

50

MINUTES

Ingredients

  • 1kg aubergines, thinly sliced into rounds with the skin on

  • salt

  • black pepper

  • 60ml olive oil, plus extra for cooking

  • 1 red onion, diced

  • 2 garlic cloves, chopped

  • 2 x 400g tins of chopped tomatoes

  • 1 tbsp tomato purée

  • 50ml water

  • 1 tsp caster sugar

  • 1 tsp cayenne pepper

  • 1 tsp chilli flakes

  • 1 vegetable stock cube

  • 400g light Mozzarella cheese, grated

  • 100g light Cheddar cheese, grated

  • fresh basil leaves, to garnish

Method

  1. Draw the excess water from the aubergines by salting them. This time, you need to layer the slices in a shallow dish and sprinkle all over with salt. Pop some kitchen paper on top of the aubergines, then put a heavy-based pot on top to help get the excess water out. This should take about 40 minutes.

  2. Meanwhile, to make the marinara sauce, heat a large saucepan and add some olive oil. Add your red onion and garlic and gently sauté until softened.

  3. Stir in the chopped tomatoes, tomato purée, water, sugar, cayenne, chilli flakes and the vegetable stock cube. Simmer for 30 minutes.

  4. Preheat your oven to 190°C.

  5. Heat a large frying pan. Using a pastry brush, lightly brush the aubergine slices with the 60ml of olive oil. Working in batches, gently fry for about 30 seconds on each side to take the edge off the raw texture. Transfer to a plate lined with kitchen paper to remove the excess oil.

  6. In a regular baking dish (a lasagne-type dish is too deep for this recipe), start assembling the moussaka by placing a layer of aubergine slices in the bottom of the dish, then spreading over a layer of sauce and sprinkling on a layer of Mozzarella cheese. Repeat the layers until all the ingredients have been used up, then finish with a layer of Cheddar cheese on top.

  7. Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes, until the cheese is melted and bubbling on top. Garnish with a few fresh basil leaves and cut into squares to serve.

    Trisha’s 21-Day Reset by Trisha Lewis is published by Gill Books, priced €19.99.

You may also like...