Warning: This dish takes time, energy, and a bit of enthusiasm. Yet, today I had no interest in cooking. But my family and I still enjoyed the most delicious and complex wonders of freshly baked mushroom moussaka. Why?
Well, besides being time consuming, this recipe is quite simple to double or triple, and on another day, I was much more in the mood for whipping up a casserole extravaganza. You can share the extras or freeze this dish, so on days when you are short on time, energy, enthusiasm, or all of the above, all you need to do is pull a moussaka out of the freezer and pop it in the oven. An hour or so later? Scrumptious comfort food with barely lifting a finger.
A friend and I recently made a quadruple batch at our Monday kitchen play date (where the kids play and the mamas cook, chat, and take turns minding the little ones.) This is an old favorite of mine based on the recipe from Mollie Katzen's Moosewood Cookbook.
When I first discovered this book some 15 years ago, I was delighted by her low-fat modifications. These days, I appreciate the value of good fats including grass fed butter, milk, and cream, and would never purposefully omit such a fat from a recipe.
Also, though I don't strictly follow a grain-free diet, I do like to limit my grains because it just feels better in my body right now. So you will see that I use almond meal where you might traditionally find breadcrumbs. I also modified the bechamel sauce to be made with arrowroot instead of flour – just how I roll in my kitchen. Feel free to swing either way – you will still end up with a wonderful meal.
You will need the following kitchen tools:
- 1 large casserole dish – like this one
- 1 baking sheet – like this one
- 1 large pan or wok – like this one
- 1 large sauce pan – like this one
- A food processor is not necessary, but certainly nice to reduce your chopping and grating time for this recipe.
Mushroom moussaka ingredients
- 3 medium eggplants
Mushroom tomato sauce ingredients
- 4 T. grassfed butter
- 2 cups chopped onion
- 2 tsp. good quality sea salt – where to buy
- 3 large portobella mushrooms, sliced
- 1-2 pounds crimini mushrooms, chopped
- 6 large cloves of garlic, minced
- 2 cups diced tomatoes and their juice (about 1 – 14 oz can if not using fresh)
- 1 jar tomato paste (I prefer Bionaturae)
- 1 tsp each: cinnamon, oregano, and basil
- 1 packed cup of freshly minced parsley
- 1 cup almond meal, divided in two
- 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese (plus extra for topping)
Bechamel sauce ingredients
- 4 T. grassfed butter
- 2 1/2 cups warm full fat milk (I like to substitute some of the milk with cream)
- 5 T. arrowroot powder
- 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese (plus extra for topping)
- nutmeg
Steps for mushroom moussaka
Preparing the eggplant:
- Slice the eggplants into 1/4 inch rounds, salt them well, and layer them in a large colander in the sink. Top with a large plate and some heavy books, and allow to stand for about 30-60 minutes while the eggplant sweat out their bitterness. In the meantime, get started with the mushroom tomato sauce.
- Oil a baking sheet and preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
- Pat your eggplant rounds dry and spread out on your baking sheet – don't worry if they overlap.
- Bake 20-30 minutes, or until the eggplant is tender. While you're waiting, make the bechamel sauce.
Mushroom tomato sauce steps:
- Melt the butter in a large pan or wok, and saute the onions and salt until translucent.
- Add mushrooms and garlic, stir and cover until the mushrooms begin to soften. You may need to do this in batches if you are doubling the recipe.
- Add tomatoes, tomato paste, and spices. When all bubble hot, add half the almond meal and most of the parsley (reserve the rest of the almond meal and a few large pinches of parsley to finish the dish).
Bechamel sauce steps:
- Pre-heat a small saucepan over medium heat.
- Place butter in pan and melt.
- Add arrowroot, begin to whisk to join the two ingredients.
- Add milk slowly, and continue whisking until the mixture comes to a boil.
- Turn heat to low while continuing to whisk frequently.
- When the sauce has thickened, turn off heat and let stand for 5 minutes, stir. If the sauce appears too thick for your preference, whisk in more warm milk.
The final steps:
- Preheat your oven to 375F.
- Butter the bottom of a large casserole dish.
- Place a double layer of eggplant on the bottom.
- Top with ALL of the tomato mushroom sauce.
- Layer the remaining eggplant slices.
- Gently pour the bechamel sauce over top.
- Sprinkle with almond meal, and parmesan.
- Bake uncovered for 40-45 minutes until the top is slightly browning and bubbling.
- Serve sprinkled with chopped parsley.
To cook a frozen casserole:
- Remove from the freezer and allow to sit on the counter for 30 mins to 1 hour if frozen in a glass or ceramic dish.
- Place dish is a cold oven and set to 375 degrees.
- Bake for about 1 hour 45 minutes covered, when cooked through, remove the cover and cook for another 15 minutes until the top is brown and bubbly.
Hazel Cheetham via Facebook says
Oh I am going to make this it looks delicious 🙂 thank you 🙂
Holistic Squid via Facebook says
Hazel – You’re welcome! You won’t be disappointed. 🙂
City Share says
I love Moosewood cookbook too, but I now adjust to make it higher fat too. I was hoping to get your RSS feed for my google reader, but got a message from feedburner that there was a problem. It said to contact you. Just FYI.
Emily says
City Share – Here’s the link to my feed: http://www.holistickid.com/feed/
You can also sign up for daily email updates here: http://www.holistickid.com/subscribe-via-email/
Lea H @ Nourishing Treasures says
Thank you for your submission on Nourishing Treasures’ Make Your Own! Monday link-up.
Check back later tonight when the new link-up is running to see if you were one of the top 3 featured posts! 🙂