Okay, did you ever see My Big Fat Greek Wedding? It's one of my all time faves. There's a hilarious scene where the main character (a Greek girl) takes her lunch to school. She opens it up and the very American, blonde girl at the next table asks, "What is that?" with a disgusted face. The sweet little Greek girl replies, "It's Moussaka!" with a very strong Greek accent. The future Mean Girl then scoffs, "Did you say moose caca?" and the whole table laughs at the sweet Greek girl.
I felt so bad for her, but then I realized what she was eating. No more sympathy. Moussaka is the bomb.
Moussaka is a traditional Greek dish that has a layer of delicious, starchy fluffiness on top followed by a very Greek, hearty meat bottom. It's like the Greek version of lasagna. So. Dang. Good. Especially when paired with a Greek salad and maybe some pita. Mmmmmmm I can taste it now.
Oh right... back to my version!
Mine is still delish, but it's adapted from a Cooking Light recipe so that I can eat it more often without gaining the extra 24 pounds it would give me.
Plus, like most of the things I make, it freezes well. #score
To cut the potato slices, I use a mandolin. They seem scary [and they are if you don't use them correctly], but they make slicing go SOOOOOO much faster! Here's the one we have:
2 cans no-salt-added diced tomatoes (drain 1 can of the juice; keep the juice of the other)
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp. ground cumin
¼ tsp. ground cinnamon
½ cup finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 cup 1% low-fat milk
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
Spray a large Dutch oven or nonstick skillet heavily with cooking spray. Heat over medium-high heat. Cook potato slices in batches until browned on both sides (about 3 minutes per side). Set browned slices aside until finished.
Preheat oven to 350.
Recoat the same pan with cooking spray. Add onion and bell peppers to pan; cook until softened, about 8 minutes. Add lamb; crumble and cook until browned (about 4 minutes). Add garlic and sauté until fragrant (about 1 minute). Add diced tomatoes, salt and pepper to taste, cumin, cinnamon, and parsley. Stir well to combine; simmer for 5 minutes.
Arrange half of the potato slices in a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Spread all of the lamb mixture over potato slices, and top with remaining potato slices.
Combine milk and lightly beaten eggs in a small bowl; pour over potato mixture. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until top is golden and set.
