Meat-Free Moussaka Adventure — The Full Kitchen

The tower of eggplant slices rose ridiculously high. I’d miscalculated the time required to make three full pans of moussaka — two with beef and one vegan — and was rushing around my narrow kitchen in Queens.

Marie, visiting from France, made her miraculous chocolate mousse and tried to keep me calm as I worked on the béchamel and roasted eggplant discs like a madwoman. We prepared enough salad for an army. My Big Fat Greek Dinner Party of early 2009 was living up to its name.

Although everyone seemed to have a fun time and enjoy the food, the one thing that still irked me years later was the vegan moussaka. I used lentils instead of beef and omitted the cheese and creamy sauce in a panic. Not my best work.

In my family, moussaka is made with eggplant, ground beef, and a rich tomato-based sauce topped with a layer of thick, custard-like béchamel that gets brown and puffy when baked. After moving to Colorado, I’d perfected a rich vegetarian version with pinto beans and parboiled potato slices.

But I hadn’t attempted a vegan redo. Recently, however, I came across Daniel Gritzer’s recipe for vegan lasagna alla bolognese that included béchamel made using almond milk infused with aromatics. Sounded promising, especially to serve our meat-free friends on Greek Easter.

The first test-run — of a half-recipe in an 8x8-inch dish — was really tasty and astonishingly light. The vegan béchamel, which only has some slight modifications, comes together much faster than the animal protein one. However, it looked a bit sad out of the oven. Do not make the colossal mistake of adding “egg replacer” in an attempt to give the sauce more substance. That texture was not right. Not right at all.

Happily, doubling the original vegan béchamel for a 9x13-inch pan produced a better looking top. A sprinkle of minced fresh parsley prior to serving made me proud to present it. This dish is so good that even the meat-eaters polished off their portions. I’ll definitely make this again for us omnivores.

The recipe below is a vegan version of the moussaka that’s been in my family for a long time. A vegetarian version under the vegan one includes instructions for béchamel with dairy and eggs. To turn the vegetarian one into a meat version, omit the potatoes and use 2 pounds of ground lamb or lean high-quality beef in place of the beans. Sauté it in a little olive oil over medium heat until crumbly before adding the onion.

If you’re tight on time, the sauce can be made and refrigerated a day in advance — for any version.

Vegan Moussaka

Sauce:
2 cans pinto beans, rinsed
2 medium-sized onions, finely chopped
3 Tbsp. tomato paste
½ C. dry red wine
3 Tbsp. Italian parsley, minced
2 tsp. salt
Freshly ground pepper
¼ tsp. ground cinnamon
¼ tsp. ground allspice
2 cloves garlic, minced

Additional Ingredients:
2 large eggplants, unpeeled
Approx. ⅓ C. olive oil
3 small Yukon gold potatoes
Salt
¼ C. fine dry breadcrumbs
Nutritional yeast
Fresh parsley, minced, for serving

Vegan Béchamel:
4 C. unflavored, unsweetened almond milk
2 bay leaves
½ tsp. dried thyme
20 whole black peppercorns
2 – 3 medium garlic cloves, smashed with a knife
6 Tbsp. refined neutral coconut oil
6 Tbsp. flour
Couple pinches of ground nutmeg
Salt to taste

Sauce: Put the rinsed beans in a large pan with a little olive oil and heat thoroughly over medium. Add onion and sauté until golden. Add tomato paste and all the remaining sauce ingredients. Cover and lower heat to simmer for 45 minutes. Sauce should be very thick. Set aside to cool.

Roast Eggplant: Slice the eggplant into 3/4-inch-thick discs. Place them on 2 large baking sheets. Brush both sides of each eggplant slice with olive oil. Sprinkle one side lightly with salt. Bake in a 400°F oven for 30 minutes or until tender, turning the slices over once midway through. Turn off oven afterward.

Clean, peel, and thinly slice the potatoes for parboiling. Put the slices in a medium saucepan full of cold water with a little salt. Bring to a boil, turn off the heat, and let stand about five minutes. Check tenderness with a fork. Can return to a boil for several minutes if they’re not getting fork tender. Drain them and allow them to cool slightly before the moussaka assembly stage.

Béchamel: In a large saucepan, combine almond milk with bay leaf, thyme, peppercorns, and garlic. Bring to a boil, and then lower heat to maintain a bare simmer for 20 minutes. Strain infused milk into a heatproof measuring cup and discard aromatics. Clean and dry the saucepan.

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

In the large clean saucepan, heat coconut oil over medium heat until melted. Add flour and cook, whisking, until raw flour smell is gone, about 2 minutes.

Add infused milk in a thin, steady stream, whisking constantly to maintain a homogeneous texture. Heat, stirring, until sauce comes to a simmer and thickens slightly. Reduce heat to low and cook, stirring, until béchamel is thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon. Stir in nutmeg, and season with salt.

Assembly: Spray or coat a 9x13-inch glass baking dish with vegetable oil. Arrange half the roasted eggplant slices in the dish.

Mix the sauce with the breadcrumbs and spread half of the sauce over the eggplant. Add the potato slices in a layer in the middle. Cover with another layer of eggplant and remaining sauce. Sprinkle the sauce with a little nutritional yeast. Spoon or pour béchamel evenly over the top.

Bake in the preheated oven for 50 minutes. Let the dish cool slightly. Sprinkle minced fresh parsley on the top before cutting into squares for serving. This recipe makes 8 generous squares.

Vegetarian Moussaka

Béchamel:
½ C. butter
¾ C. flour
3¾ C. whole milk
1 tsp. salt
⅛ tsp. nutmeg
⅛ tsp. pepper
5 large eggs

Additional Ingredients:
2 large eggplants, unpeeled
2 small Yukon gold potatoes, peeled, sliced thin and parboiled
6 Tbsp. olive oil
¼ C. fine dry breadcrumbs
1 C. (~3.5 oz.) freshly grated Parmesan cheese OR a generous sprinkling of nutritional yeast (see cheese note below)

Roast Eggplants: Slice the eggplants into 3/4-inch-thick discs. Place them on two large baking sheets. Brush both sides of each eggplant slice with olive oil. Sprinkle one side lightly with salt. Bake in a 400°F oven for 30 minutes or until tender, turning the slices over once midway through. Turn off oven afterward.

Béchamel: In a large saucepan, melt the butter and whisk in the flour. Gradually stir in milk, stirring constantly, cook until thickened. It should have the consistency of very thick chowder, and you might need to turn up heat to medium-high toward the end. Be patient, though. This could take 20 to 30 minutes.

Season with salt, nutmeg, and pepper. Beat eggs with an electric beater until light, then beat the hot sauce very gradually into the eggs. If you go too fast the eggs can curdle.

Clean, peel and slice the potatoes for parboiling. Put the slices in a saucepan full of cold water. Bring to a boil, turn off the heat, and let stand about five minutes. Check tenderness with a fork. Should have some give. Can return them to a boil if needed. Drain them and allow them to cool prior to the assembly stage.

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Assembly: Arrange half the roasted eggplant slices in a greased 9x13-inch glass baking dish. Mix the sauce with the breadcrumbs and spread half of the sauce over the eggplant.

Sprinkle with half of the cheese OR some nutritional yeast. Add the potato slices in a layer in the middle. Cover with another layer of eggplant and remaining sauce. Spoon béchamel over the top. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese, if using.

Bake in the preheated oven for 50 minutes to 1 hour, or until set and lightly browned on top. If it is getting too brown, cover loosely with aluminum foil shiny side up. Let the dish cool for 15 minutes before cutting into squares. This recipe makes 12 servings.

Cheese note: Parmesan production involves rennet, which is an animal product, so this cheese and several other hard cheeses are not technically vegetarian.