Moussaka (Serves a hungry 4!)

Traditional moussakas will have lemon zest, fresh parsley and white wine in – all of which take us out of the frugal theme. But this dish is all about the all spice, oregano and cinnamon – the spices just work so wonderfully well with lamb. It truly is a simple classic.

Ingredients

• 500g of lamb mince (£2.99)
• 3 large aubergines (£1.64)
• 1 large brown onion (16p)
• 1 pint of semi skimmed milk (45p)
• 1 tin (400g) of chopped tomatoes (33p)
• 500g of plain flour (35p) – we’re using 75g of plain flour

The cupboard staples…

Salt, black pepper, olive oil, 3 cloves of garlic, 75g of butter, ½ teaspoon cinnamon, 1 teaspoon all spice and 1 tablespoon of dried oregano.

Total cost

If you already have the cupboard staples, then according to mysupermarket.co.uk, this trolley was cheapest at Sainsbury’s where it came to £5.92 - that’s £1.48 per head!

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 185C.
• Let’s kick off with the lamb mixture. Add 3 tablespoons of olive oil to a deep, wide frying pan at a medium low heat – add the finely chopped onion and garlic and gently cook through until the onions become translucent. Now add the all spice, cinnamon and lamb mince and fry off until the mince is nicely browned all over. Finally add the tomatoes, oregano, ½ pint of water and season well – simmer down the mixture for 20 minutes.
• Whilst the lamb mixture is reducing you can make the béchamel sauce which is the topping for the moussaka. Warm the milk gently in a saucepan and keep warm ready to use. Now melt the butter in a thick bottomed saucepan over a low heat and then stir in the flour – cook through for around 3 minutes without colouring too much. Now gradually stir in the milk. Keep stirring until you have a nice smooth béchamel. Season with a little salt and white pepper. Cover and set to one side.
• Next up are the aubergines. Slice lengthways to around ½ a cm thick and fry in some olive oil until browned. Remove from the pan once browned and place the aubergines on some kitchen paper to get rid of the excess fat. The lamb mixture will also be ready to take off the heat
• Last thing to do is assemble the moussaka and place in the oven. Grab a deep oven proof dish (such as a lasagne dish) and lay half of the aubergines along the bottom. Now pour in all the lamb mixture and spread evenly and then add another layer of aubergines. Finally, pour over the béchamel sauce and place in the oven for 40-45 minutes (until the top has browned). Do try and let it rest for 10 minutes before serving.
• Happy eating

Taken from our Frugal Recipe article

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