Homemade Moussaka; The ingredient that makes all the difference! 🍆

Hello, hello. So yes, in summer, it's salads, fruits and vegetables, freshness in the plates, but there are also stewed dishes that are perfect for this very hot season. And the recipe we're going to talk about is part of it. I love it because we can prepare it in advance, enjoy the aperitif with everyone, and take out the dish when it's time to go to the table. Ladies and gentlemen, today we are looking at the Musaka file. Musaka? It's a weird name, isn't it? A little announcement before we start. Musaka is part of the family of dishes that are very good in summer. However, it is also found in the group of recipes of which there are an infinite number of variants. Depending on the origins, we find this recipe in the Middle East, in the Balkans, as in Romania, but also in Greece. But also depending on the families. And that's what's beautiful about cooking. Spices in addition, one less vegetable, a different cooking. We create, we optimize and we adapt. And above all, we have fun. So I'm going to show you this recipe, as I like to do it, with ingredients that I love, and techniques that, in my opinion, make it possible to have a very cheeky dish and easy to prepare. Example, yes, I'm going to put potatoes, because it's great. And no, I won't put sheep, because it's a little more picky. So at home, have fun, taste and cook, so that in 20 years, your grandchildren will say, so that's the recipe for Musaka of my daddy or my mina. You see the idea? I take this opportunity to announce to you that this recipe is available in volume 2 of my manual of the amateur cook, and it is available in all the good bookstores, on the big screen and on the internet. I put all the information in the description, if you are hot. Well, let's get ready and stop the debates, it starts on a Musaka. And we'll start with what makes us maybe the most think of Musaka, the eggplant. It's good, the eggplant, when it's well cooked. So yes, today we're going to take care of it, so that it has taste and texture. To start, very simple, we remove the peduncle, we cut them into slices of 1 cm thick, and we place them on a plate with baking paper. If you make a big Musaka, do not hesitate to make two plates, because we're going to need a lot of these little slices of eggplant. We brush them with a nice trace of olive oil, be generous. We continue with salt, which we will spread well on the eggplants, and it goes in the oven at 180 ° C for half an hour. I do it in the oven so that it is a little less fat, but you can fry it in oil, it's also excellent. We will reserve the same fate for the potatoes. We wash them, we keep the skin, we make slices of about 0.5 to 1 cm, and we place them on a plate. You can put a little less than the eggplants, because we're only going to make one layer. We put a little trace of olive oil on them as well, and we continue with salt, which we will spread on each piece of potato. It is important that each piece is well seasoned. As for the eggplants, it goes at 180 ° C for half an hour, and for them also, if you are hot, you can fry them. Now that the cooking of the potatoes and the eggplants is under control, we will take care of the garnish. I start by peeling a large yellow onion, which we will chisel as finely as possible. We make notches in the direction of the length, then we cut it into the width. I love having very thin pieces, it's much more pleasant in the mouth when tasting. They will melt more easily when cooking, and better bind with all the ingredients. We grab a small clove of garlic, so it's only small in name, because it's an apple, this thing. But likewise, we will cut it as finely as possible, and if you don't have the time, a garlic press or a microplane will do the trick. We finish by chopping it so that it is very regular, and it goes with the onions. It's time to take out its most beautiful shell. When it is hot, we add a drizzle of olive oil, and we pour our onions and garlic in it. We will mix all this regularly over medium heat, to have translucent onions, but without looking for too much color. The idea is that they start to be very tender. Once you are satisfied with the texture of these, we will be able to reserve them. We can then increase the heat under the shell, add a little fat, and this time we add the beef. Well fattened minced beef, it will be perfect. I like to cook the elements separately, because the beef needs to be grabbed with a fairly powerful fire, and the onions and garlic with a much softer fire. So this time we put the fire full ball, and we will grab the meat by stirring regularly. We leave moments where we do not touch, so that it comes to mark the meat on each side. The goal is that it hangs a little, that it creates cooking juices in the bottom of the pan, that's what will give flavor to our sauce. When you are satisfied with the color of your meat, we can put a tablespoon of tomato concentrate, and we put the onions back. We mix well to coat the meat well in the tomato concentrate, and when we have a lot of juice in the bottom of the shell, we will deglaze with red wine. We can then take the juices off with a spoon, we let the wine evaporate a little, then we pour the beef broth. It is he who will give all the depth to the sauce. We add half a can of tomatoes. And yes, as for Italian lasagna, it is not a tomato sauce, it is really the meat that must take over. We want a very brown, very colorful sauce, and which has a lot of taste. And speaking of taste, we will add the magical spices. I start with nutmeg, go ahead Franco, we want it to taste. We continue with dried oregano. Oregano is much too good, so make yourself happy. Be careful, it's optional, but I put fennel seeds, it's way too good. And of course, a few cracks of pepper and salt, two small bay leaves. I also add a nice stick of cinnamon, which will infuse into the sauce. And you start to know me, Espelette pepper. I love Espelette pepper. And we now let it simmer for 25 to 30 minutes. We want the sauce to reduce, concentrate its flavors, and that the texture thickens for a perfect rendering. Ding dong! I think it's time to check the cooking of our potatoes and our eggplants. Already visually, I can tell you that it's pretty good. It's really perfect. But before continuing, I would like to talk to you about the sponsor of this video, Squarespace. If you don't know yet, Squarespace is the solution to create a website from A to Z without worrying. If like me, you have a passion project or a professional project that you want to develop thoroughly, Squarespace allows you to create a website in a few clicks, even if you have no knowledge in this field. 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Thanks to them. Back to the kitchen. So, our ragout, what does it look like? But it's not bad at all. The color has darkened and the consistency is much thicker. The aubergines deserved a few more minutes. Here they are. This time, it's perfect. And our ragout too. Look at this beautiful reduction. The meat has absorbed all the elements well. The spices and flavors, it's delicious. We now have one element left to attack, the béchamel sauce. Well, béchamel, not really. It's more of a Mornay sauce, that is, a béchamel sauce to which cheese is added. And for the cheese, I love to choose Losso Irati, incredible Burberry cheese. Then, for the Mornay sauce, we will add two egg yolks. This will bring texture to our sauce. You will see, it's really not bad. So we clarify two eggs, and we will now be able to start the base of the sauce, which is, as we said earlier, a béchamel. So we melt the butter in a saucepan. Once it's done, we will be able to add the flour. I obviously put all the ingredients in the description, as usual. We mix so that the butter absorbs all the flour, and we let it cook for a minute, stirring regularly. Then we add a quarter of our whole milk, and you will see, it will thicken very quickly. As soon as we start to have this pasty texture, we can add a good third. We obviously continue to mix with our whisk to incorporate the flour and the butter. And when the mixture starts to be homogeneous, we can finish adding the milk gradually. Look at this beautiful texture. It's beautiful, isn't it? We season this sauce with pepper. If you have white pepper, it's even better. A mountain of nutmeg, a nice pinch of salt, and we mix. During this time, remember to mix from time to time and to lower the heat to a minimum, otherwise it will stick. It's time to add our two egg yolks. The béchamel will take on a very beautiful color. And our deluge of erythritol. We mix well to melt the cheese and make the sauce very smooth. And after a few minutes of patience, you will have this absolutely wonderful result. I'm sorry, but I want to dive into it. But let's focus again, we have to start editing. So we start with a small layer of potatoes. In addition to the taste, which is very cool, it will make a solid base for our moussaka and that it holds up well. I add a layer of eggplant on top. We try to pack them well so that they are present all over the surface. And now it's time to add our ragout. We remove the parts that crawl under the tooth, the bay leaf and the cinnamon. And unlike lasagna, I like to make a single layer. So with the help of our spoon, we make a layer of our ragout, which we will immediately cover with eggplants. As before, we try to tighten them well so that there are on the whole surface. Yes, yes, even there in this little hole. And finally, we add the béchamel with cheese. Oh la la, it's indecent. I'm so hungry that I think I could eat it right now. Before it goes in the oven. It can't be bad, right? But hey, we're not savages, so we're going to equalize everything with a maryse. And for a little last layer of coquinerie, we add a little bit of grated soy. This will form a little crust above the moussaka. It's not a shame. And there you go. All that remains is to bake this monster for 45 minutes at 180 degrees. As usual, watch the cooking according to your oven. It can be a little more or a little less. Here, 45 minutes, it looks perfect to me. But my little tip, and it's in line with the fact that I'm impatient, is to wait 5 to 10 minutes before serving. You will have the perfect temperature and texture. Your moussaka will hold up well like this. And you can make yourself nice parts of the space, very greedy. Oh la la, how beautiful this story is. It's full of flavors, it's greedy, it's comforting. And a hot dish in the summer, we don't say no. My friends, it only gives me one desire. It's to eat at 10.30 p.m. after a start of the evening to chat under the olive trees with the noise of the cicadas. If you too, think about liking and sharing this video with the people with whom you want to taste this dish. Subscribe if you haven't already, so you don't miss the next videos. And above all, go to the kitchen, make this little wonder, and send me your photos on Insta, I love it. I'll see you very soon for new adventures. It was Hugo. You are always on your own. Enjoy your meal. Ciao.