Potato Moussaka Romanian Recipes

POTATO MOUSSAKA - ROMANIAN RECIPE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius/ 360 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Chop the onions finely. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large heavy bottom pan or Dutch oven and fry the onions gently until they are translucent.
• Add the ground meat and fry it until brown, stirring and breaking the lumps while it cooks.
• In the meantime, peel the potatoes and slice them very thinly. Use a mandoline for this task, it guarantees for thin and regular potato slices which will cook evenly in the oven. Set aside.
• When the meat is brown, add dried savory/thyme, sweet ground paprika, salt and pepper to taste.
• Oil a medium, deeper casserole dish with a little of the remaining oil.
• Divide the potato slices into 3 batches. Arrange the first batch of potatoes in a double layer into the dish. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cover with half of the ground meat.
• Arrange another double layer of potato slices on top of that, adding salt and pepper again. Cover with the rest of the meat and add the last batch of potato slices. Sprinkle with salt and pepper again.
• Mix the tomato puree with about 50 ml/ 1.7 fl.oz/ ¼ cup water to make it a bit runnier. Pour the mixture into the casserole dish. Add more water to barely fill the casserole dish, the upper layer of potatoes should not be covered in water though. Pour the remaining oil on top of the casserole.
• Bake the potato moussaka for about 1 hour and 10 minutes or until the potatoes are soft. Check the potatoes and prolong the cooking time if they are not soft yet.
• If the casserole dish gets too dark on top, cover it loosely with aluminum foil, you should check after about half the time and cover the dish if necessary.
• Serve with pickled vegetables or salad.

ROMANIAN AUTHENTIC POTATO MOUSSAKA

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350F.
• Wash the skin of potatoes really well using a kitchen brush.
• In a big pot, place the potatoes and enough water to cover them. Boil the potatoes until tender(or a fork goes through them).
• When the potatoes are boiled, remove the pot from the stove, drain the water, and set the potatoes aside to cool.
• While the potatoes are cooling, brown the ground meat in a pan with 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil.
• Add chopped onion, salt, pepper, and paprika mix well, and continue to brown the meat and the onions together.
• When the meat is ready, add the crushed/diced tomatoes or the can of tomato sauce.
• Mix well and cook on medium heat for few minutes until the liquid is reduced and the sauce is formed.
• Add the chopped parsley and mix well.
• Separately, beat the eggs and mix them with the sour cream and the shredded cheese.
• Remove the skin of the potatoes and discard them. Slice the potatoes.
• Butter and flour/bread crumbs an 8x8 inches baking dish.
• Place slices of potatoes on the bottom of the pan. Add a layer of meat mixture.
• Add another layer of sliced potatoes, another layer of meat, and repeat until you finish all ingredients.
• The last layer should be potatoes.
• Beat the eggs, mix them with sour cream and cheese. Add a little bit of salt to your taste. Pour this mixture over the last layer of potatoes.
• Bake in the oven at 350F for about an hour or until golden brown on top.
• Cut in squares and serve warm topped with sour cream.

BEEF AND POTATO MOUSSAKA

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°. In a large skillet, cook beef and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink, 7-9 minutes, breaking into crumbles. Add garlic; cook 1 minute longer. Drain. Stir in water, tomato paste, parsley, salt, mint if desired, cinnamon and pepper. Set aside., For sauce, melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in flour until smooth; gradually add milk. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Remove from the heat. Stir a small amount of hot mixture into eggs; return all to the pan, stirring constantly. Add cheese and salt., Place half of the potato slices in a greased shallow 3-qt. baking dish. Top with half the cheese sauce and all of the meat mixture. Arrange remaining potatoes over meat mixture; top with remaining cheese sauce., Bake, uncovered, until a thermometer reads 160°, about 1 hour. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

ROMANIAN MOUSAKA

Steps:

• Heat the oil in a large pan or wok and use to fry the potatoes for about 10 minutes or until just softened.
• Add the onions and fry for a further 10 minutes.
• Transfer the mixture to an oven-proof casserole dish then top with the meat and tomatoes.
• Season with salt and black pepper then stir to combine.
• Pour the beef stock over the top then transfer to an oven pre-heated to 170°C and bake for about 60 minutes. Serve hot.

POTATO MOUSSAKA

Steps:

• Fry minced onion, garlic and bay leaf in olive oil until onion becomes translucent, but not browned.
• Add minced lamb (or beef) and cook, stirring until browned. Add oregano, cinnamon, salt and pepper. Add peeled and chopped tomatoes to the meat with lamb (or beef) stock. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and cover. Simmer gently for 30 minutes or until reduce most of liquids.
• Meanwhile, peal and slice potatoes into flat pieces, as for chips, but thicker, about 0,5 cm. Fry them in olive oil until lightly browned on both sides. Remove them from pan on a paper towel.
• Take a large ovenproof dish and layer the potato slices and meat, ending with a layer of potatoes.
• Beat 2 eggs with flour, salt, pepper and a little grated nutmeg. Stir in yogurt. Pour this over the moussaka.
• Bake in preheated oven at 180°C for about 1 hour, until the topping is set and golden brown. Allow to stand for 15 minutes before serving.