Lamb Moussaka Recipe

COOK meals are perfect for when you fancy a night off cooking … something even the most passionate home cook needs now and again. But how do our prices compare with making it yourself?

We followed our recipe for two for Lamb Moussaka at home and found it was more expensive getting the ingredients from the supermarket.

We based this on checking Sainsbury’s online ingredient prices in October 22 and now we have updated to most recent prices in February 22, for a two portion recipe. We didn't include ingredients we had in the fridge or kitchen cupboard (including any alcohol) and used the smallest available amounts of what we needed.

Our shopping list for the recipe below included:  aubergine, a potato, an onion, lamb mince, chopped tomatoes, lamb stock, tomato puree, oregano, cinnamon, nutmeg, whole milk, ricotta cheese, cheddar and fresh parsley. Everything else we had already.

If you'd prefer to make it yourself, our recipe for a 2 portion is below.  As freezer connoisseurs we'd always recommend batch cooking for the absolute best value recipe - scroll to the end for some tips.

Lamb Moussaka Recipe

Ingredients:

• ½ aubergine
• 5g plain flour, seasoned with salt and pepper
• 10ml rapeseed oil
• 1 medium potato

Ragu

• 10ml rapeseed oil
• ½ onion, diced
• 1  garlic clove, crushed
• 160g lamb mince
• 200g chopped tomatoes
• 100ml lamb stock
• 1/2 tbsp tomato puree
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 10g plain flour
• salt and pepper, to taste

Bechamel sauce:

• 20g butter
• 20g plain flour
• pinch nutmeg, freshly grated
• 225ml whole milk
• 15g ricotta cheese
• 25g mature Cheddar, grated

Topping:

• 25g mature Cheddar, grated
• 20g dried breadcrumbs
• ½ bunch fresh parsley, chopped

Method:

1. Preheat the fan oven to 180°C.

2.Dust the aubergines with the seasoned flour and fry in half the oil for 3-4 minutes. Place onto a paper towel to absorb any residual oil and reserve.

3.Peel the potatoes. Place the potatoes and peel into a pan, cover with water to rinse of the starch, empty & refill. Lightly season with salt and bring to the boil. Simmer for approx. 10-12 minutes until just soft. Empty into a colander and allow to cool slightly. Once cooled cut into 5-6mm thick slices and reserve.

4.Combine the topping ingredients and reserve. 

5.Fry the onion, garlic and lamb for 5 minutes. Add the flour and fully combine. Slowly add the lamb stock to create the sauce, bring up to the boil until thickened. Add all the remaining ingredients, bring to the boil then simmer for 15 minutes. The sauce should be nice and thick, season to taste and reserve.

6.To make the bechamel melt the butter in a pan, whisk in the flour then the milk, bring to the boil then take off the heat and whisk in the nutmeg, ricotta & grated Cheddar and mix until a silky texture.

7.In an oven proof dish add the meat ragu and level off, top with the aubergines, then with the potatoes. Finish with the white sauce and sprinkle over the Cheddar topping and bake for 40-45 minutes.