Authentic Greek Moussaka & Greek Salad ｜ Akis Petretzikis

Watch how you can make the most scrumptious, delicious moussaka. An authentic Greek recipe with a spectacular combination of flavours, as well as a nutritious, aromatic Greek salad. A quick and easy recipe that is perfect with any meal or any time of day. Hello food lovers and welcome to Kitchen Lab! On this show, I will show you how to combine simple ingredients, lots of herbs, lots of veggies, to make the perfect recipe. First recipe is moussaka. Layers of veggies, a creamy bechamel sauce on the top and minced meat in between. And the second recipe will be Greek salad. I will show you the best way to make the best salad ever, just simple ingredients mixed together and the Greek salata is ready. So, let's take a look at the moussaka ingredients. For the moussaka, you will need 3 potatoes, 2 zucchini, 2 eggplants, salt, pepper, sunflower oil for frying. For the ground meat, you will need 1 onion, 2 tablespoons olive oil, 1 clove of garlic, thyme, salt, pepper, 1 teaspoon granulated sugar, 1 leveled teaspoon ground cinnamon, half a teaspoon ground cloves, 500 grams ground beef, 1 tablespoon tomato paste, 400 grams canned chopped tomatoes, half a bunch parsley, half a bunch basil. For the bechamel sauce, you will need 100 grams butter, 100 grams all-purpose flour, 750 grams milk, a pinch of ground nutmeg, salt, pepper, 150 grams parmesan cheese grated, 3 egg yolks. To serve, you will need fresh herbs, 1 teaspoon olive oil. And let's begin to make our lovely moussaka! First, we need to cook the veggies. Then, we will make the ground beef and to finish the moussaka, we have to make a creamy bechamel sauce. First, we have to start with the veggies and we need eggplants, zucchinis, and potatoes. The only thing you have to do to those veggies is to thinly slice them. First, I will start with the potatoes. I need to peel them first. The idea of the moussaka is to use all the leftover veggies you have inside your fridge. So, if you have sweet potatoes, if you have peppers, if you have any other veggies, you can use for this recipe. But the original recipe has those three veggies. And the potatoes are ready! I don't need the peel and I will slice them. Simply take your knife, cut them, nice slices like this. And the last one. Now, I have to cook them. I have here vegetable oil, 180 degrees Celsius and I will deep fry my potatoes inside my oil until they are completely cooked. Meanwhile, I will slice all the other veggies and I will carry on cooking them. And my veggies are ready! I love zucchini, I love eggplants. Eggplants actually are the queen of all vegetables and we have to use them to make the best moussaka. Now, the potatoes need five to ten minutes. When I finish potatoes, I will carry on with the rest of the veggies. And my zucchinis are ready! And actually, this was the hardest part of the recipe. To prepare all the veggies because to prepare the ground meat… Oh, it's hot! And the bechamel sauce, it's very easy. It's like a 20-minute procedure. I will put that on the side and we will carry on with the ground beef. I need a pan. On heat. Bravo! And first, we have to chop one onion. Chop, chop! Just to know, all the Greek recipes start with an onion. So, you have to buy lots of onions to make Greek recipes. Onion is ready, we need extra virgin Greek olive oil. Not a lot, just two tablespoons. And the onion goes into the pan. We need to hear that lovely noise and this lovely smell. Extra virgin Greek olive oil and onion give this smell that actually will make you crazy. We need a clove of garlic, thinly sliced, like this. We need just the flavor of the garlic. Bravo! And now, we need a lot of thyme. We love thyme, we use thyme and the thyme will actually give flavor all the time during cooking the moussaka. Thyme inside, salt and pepper and something tasty will happen. Salt, pepper, and sugar. We need some sugar to help caramelize the onion and actually to balance the acidity of the tomato. Now, one to two minutes until the onion is completely caramelized and then we will add the spices. Cinnamon and clove inside because cinnamon and clove is something characteristic with the Greek cuisine. We like cinnamon, we love cinnamon and then we will add the ground beef. Ground beef goes in and we need this lovely beef to caramelize the same way as the onions. So, help it, break it and make it sexy and nice. Like this. And it smells so, so nice. Look at this. We need the caramelization of the meat. And when the meat is ready, we will add the tomato paste. One tablespoon of tomato paste and you have to sauté the tomato paste. When we sauté the tomato paste, it's not so aggressive with the meat. It becomes more sweet and we need that. We need this sweetness. So, sauté the tomato paste with the beef and everything is almost ready. Now, we will add the tomato. The ground beef is almost ready. Now, simmer for about five to ten minutes until all the liquid evaporates and the mixture is thick and nice. Five to ten minutes, simmer and it will be ready. After that, we will carry on with the bechamel sauce. And the ground beef is ready. Look at this. It smells so nice and it's time to add some herbs in this lovely beef. I have some parsley and of course, some basil. We need basil. Tomato and basil are the best friends, we know that. So, basil and parsley, chop chop and everything goes inside this lovely ground beef. You don't have to thinly slice the herbs. Roughly chop them like this. Put them in, take a spoon and try the seasoning. This is lovely. Some spaghetti in this lovely ground beef is the best meal ever but we will use this ground beef to make our moussaka. Now, mix and mix, set it aside and let's carry on with the bechamel sauce. For the bechamel sauce, we need a pot, we need a whisk and we need butter and flour. First, add the butter and make sure it melts completely like this. When the butter is melted, add flour and whisk until you have a thick paste like this. Can you see that? This is actually called roux. This is a base for all the sauces we are making at French cuisine but we will use to make the bechamel sauce. Actually, bechamel sauce is French. And now, we have to add the milk. Add the milk in batches. Add the first batch, whisk and when the milk is completely incorporated, add the next batch of milk and carry on the procedure like this. This way, you will have the most creamy bechamel sauce ever. If we add the milk all at once, then lumps will form. Next batch of milk, carry on whisking. It's the most simple sauce ever and the most basic sauce ever. So, you have to learn how to make bechamel sauce. Homemade bechamel sauce is something unbeatable. You have to make it by your own. It's almost done. It's almost ready. And I will add the last batch of milk. Now, I will carry on whisking until it's smooth and nice and starts bubbling. Ah, look at that! Look at this texture! Amazing! My bechamel sauce starts bubbling so, I will take off the heat and I will add the rest of the ingredients. First, we have to add some nutmeg. Perfection! Freshly ground nutmeg inside and of course, salt and pepper. Whisk and at this point, this sauce is called bechamel sauce. But we have to add more ingredients. We have to add some parmesan and some egg yolks and that transforms the bechamel sauce to Mornay sauce. Just to know that because I don't want to have bad comments. After egg yolks and parmesan, the sauce is called Mornay. Now, three egg yolks goes in. One, two, three and of course, I will keep the egg whites to make my breakfast omelette. Put them aside. Whisk again and this, ladies and gentlemen, is called perfection. Now, it's time to assemble our moussaka. You have to put everything in a pan. That's it. I have a lovely pan here and of course, we don't have to add any olive oil because we deep fried our veggies we will just lay our veggies on the top of the tray. First, we'll start with the potatoes. Look at this. This is loveliness. Potatoes, eggplants, zucchinis, ground beef, bechamel sauce, Mornay sauce. This is called perfection. This is stunning and it's something that nobody can resist because we know that this food is tasty even before we try it. Now, after the potatoes, we will add the eggplants in the same manner. Just lay them on the top of the potatoes like this. And we need some salt and pepper because we deep fried our veggies but we didn't season them. Salt, pepper, and the last ingredient is zucchinis! I don't know why but we love zucchinis in Greece. We have many recipes with them. Zucchini fritters, many many stews with zucchinis and actually it's one of the basic ingredients of Greek cuisine. Now, salt and pepper. Again, you can add at this point any herbs you like. Basil, mint, whatever you like. Actually, it will be your moussaka, not mine. And the next ingredient is the ground beef but before we add the beef, take two spoonfuls of the bechamel sauce, maybe three, of the Mornay sauce, add to the ground beef and mix together because we need the ground beef to be as creamy as the bechamel sauce and because we want to make sure that all the ingredients will stick together. So, now on the top of the veggies goes the ground beef, spread it, easy and guess what? Now it's time for the loveliness! Bechamel sauce on top and this is the best picture ever! Look at this! Amazing! This is stunning! Spread the bechamel sauce, make sure it covers all the beef this way. A nice spatula will help you. It's almost ready! Last ingredient, a little bit parmesan on the top like this to make it crunchy, sexy, golden and now it's time to bake our lovely moussaka to 180 degrees celsius set to fan for about 35 to 40 minutes until it's golden brown, crispy and very very sexy and after that we will set it aside for about one hour to cool down a little bit and then we will cut a big slice to taste. And my moussaka is ready! I let it cool for about half an hour and it's time to portion my lovely moussaka into eight pieces. Oh my god, it's still creamy and sexy and look at this! This is loveliness! This moussaka is so delicious that actually if you try it it will be the first time you're actually eating moussaka because moussaka is creamy, it's nice, it's very very flavorful, it's still hot. Oh my god! And look at this loveliness! Layers of veggies, lovely ground beef and of course this creamy and sexy bechamel sauce. Look at this! This is amazing! This is stunning! Now, just a drop of extra virgin greek olive oil, just a few herbs on top to make it sexy and this is it! Enjoy! Up next on Kitchen Lab, how to make the easiest and most nutritious greek salad. A combination of wonderful ingredients that are rich in flavors and aroma. To make the moussaka, peel the potatoes and cut them into thin rounds. Transfer to a deep pan full of hot oil and fry for 5 to 10 minutes until golden. When the potatoes are ready, use a slotted spoon to transfer them to a baking pan lined with paper towels so they can drain from excess oil. Cut the eggplants into thin rounds and remove the stems. Remove the ends of the zucchini and cut them into thin rounds also. Transfer the eggplants to the pan with hot oil and fry for 5 to 10 minutes. When they are ready, transfer to a baking pan lined with paper towels. Repeat the same process with the zucchini. Set all of the vegetables aside until needed. To make the ground beef, place a deep pan over heat and let it get very hot. Add the olive oil, the onion, coarsely chopped, the garlic, thyme, salt, pepper and granulated sugar. Saute for 1 to 2 minutes until caramelized. Add the ground cinnamon and cloves. Mix and add the ground beef. Break it up with a wooden spoon and saute until golden. Add the tomato paste and saute to remove its bitter flavor. Add the chopped tomatoes. Lower heat and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes until the liquid evaporates and the mixture thickens. When the ground beef is ready, remove from heat. Coarsely chop the parsley and basil and add them to the pan. Mix and set aside until needed. To make the béchamel sauce, in a pot, add the butter and whisk until it melts. Add the all-purpose flour and whisk vigorously to incorporate. Add the milk in small batches and whisk continuously until the béchamel sauce thickens. When it comes to a boil, remove from heat. Add the nutmeg, salt, pepper, 100 grams grated parmesan and 3 egg yolks. Whisk thoroughly to assemble the moussaka. In a 25 by 32 centimeter baking pan, add a layer of potatoes and cover with a layer of eggplants. Season with pepper and salt. Add a layer of zucchini and season with pepper and salt. Add 2 to 3 tablespoons of the béchamel sauce to the ground meat and mix. Spread the ground meat mixture evenly over the vegetables. Add the remaining béchamel sauce and spread it evenly. Sprinkle with grated parmesan. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius, set to fan and bake for 35 to 40 minutes until golden. When the moussaka is ready, remove from oven and allow it to cool. To serve, cut a large piece of moussaka, place it on a serving plate, top with fresh herbs and drizzle with extra virgin Greek olive oil. And now it's time to try my moussaka! Look at this! Lovely, lovely, lovely moussaka! What can I say for this dish? It is so, so delicious! It is so complete because it actually has everything! It has all the protein from the beef, the cheese and the milk and of course, it has fiber and carbs from the veggies. It is so delicious! It is something that actually when you start eating, you cannot stop eating! Now, I will carry on with my moussaka and it's time for you to see the ingredients for the Greek salad. For the Greek salad, you will need 6 to 8 tablespoons olive oil, 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar, 1 tablespoon honey, salt, pepper, 2 tablespoons dry oregano, 350 grams cherry tomatoes, half a cucumber, 1 third onion, 1 green bell pepper, 10 to 15 olives, 1 tablespoon capers, 200 grams Greek feta cheese, 5 rusks. And now, it's time to prepare the Greek salad! The best salad ever! You have to know how to make a Greek salata because it's very easy to prepare and of course, it's the most tasty salata ever! You need a bowl and first, we have to prepare the dressing. For the dressing, you need ingredient number one, extra virgin Greek olive oil. Don't be cheapy, add a lot because we need extra virgin Greek olive oil and a good splash of white wine vinegar. Put it in. Bravo! Now, I want some honey. Just a tablespoon, not a lot. Salt and pepper. Pepper, salt, and a little bit of dry oregano. This is the basic herb we use on Greek salata. So, add a little bit here. Take a spoon and I don't want you to over whisk the mixture, just simply mix like this. We don't want to make a thick dressing, we want to make a dressing like this. Now, take the spoon back and let's carry on with the veggies. We don't need a lot of veggies but we need them to be in season. First, we need tomatoes. You can use cherry tomatoes or whole tomatoes, whatever you want but the cherry tomatoes are better looking. So, I will use cherry tomatoes. Cut them in half like this and the first ingredient we will add into the sauce is the tomatoes because the tomatoes will take out all this lovely flavor they have and they will actually add it into the sauce and this is something we want. Now, tomatoes are almost ready. A little bit more. Now, put them in and let them release their flavor. Just mix them a little bit. Oh my god, this is loveliness. This is heaven! And now, it's time to add the rest of the veggies. First, we need Mr. Cucumber. We need the half of it. Thinly slice the cucumber like this and put it on top of the tomatoes like this. Look at these colors! This is amazing! This is an art! Now, it's time for Mr. Onion. Don't take it all, just one third of it. Thinly slice the onion and put it on top of the cucumber and the next ingredient is green pepper. We need all of the pepper and thinly slice like this and put on top of the cucumber. And my salad is almost ready. We need to add kalamata olives on top, some capers because actually capers and kalamata olives are basic ingredients for a Greek salad. Some feta cheese on top, more oregano. Where is my oregano? Here it is, on the top of the feta cheese. More extra virgin Greek olive oil and if you want, it's not necessary, you can add some rusks to soak up all this lovely flavor of the veggies and the olive oil. And this is it! Ladies and gentlemen, once again, I present you Mr. Greek Salada! To make the Greek salad, in a bowl, add the olive oil, white wine vinegar, honey, pepper, salt and dry oregano. Gently mix the dressing. Cut the cherry tomatoes in half and add them to the bowl. Chop the ends off of the cucumber. Chop into small pieces and add them to the bowl. Add the onion and the green pepper. Top with olives, capers, Greek feta cheese, dry oregano, olive oil and rusks. And now, it's time to answer the critical question. How are we going to eat this lovely salad? Very easy. Break up everything. First, the rusks, like this. Then, the feta cheese, like this. Mess up everything, like this. And then, take the salad in front of you and start enjoying it. Like this. I'm telling you, this is the best salad ever. It's stunning.