Moussaka: 'The Greek National Dish'

Ten Servings

Ingredients:
4 large eggplants
1½ cup olive oil for frying
1 kg lamb minced meat finely chopped
1 small onion thinly chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 stick cinnamon
½ tablespoon grated orange peel 
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon flour
3 well beaten eggs
½ kg yoghurt
Salt 
Pepper
Nutmeg 

Directions:
Cut the eggplants into half-inch slices let them sit in salted water for about an hour. Squeeze the excess water and line them up in a slightly tilted high-walled backing pan to collect any of the bitter brown liquid remaining in them. Heat the cup and a half of olive oil in a deep pan and fry the eggplants until they soften up, but before take them out before their surface becomes golden-brown. Line them up on paper towels to absorb the extra oil.
Finely chop the lamb meat and the onion. Heat the remaining olive oil in a pan, add the lamb, the onion, the cinnamon and the grated orange peel, and the salt, and cook for about five minutes.
Cover the bottom of a medium-sized backing dish with half of the fried eggplants, then add the lamb meat mixture, and cover with the remaining eggplants.
Melt the butter in a pan, and then stir in the flour until golden. Remove the pan from the heat and stir until the mixture cools. Beat the eggs, mix them with the yogurt, and add them to the flour mixture together with the nutmeg. Pour the béchamel sauce over the moussaka and bake for about half an hour (until the béchamel solidifies and turns golden) in an oven preheated to 180 degrees Celcius.

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