Mousakka

Day 1: skin and slice the eggplant into 1/4 inch slices (they can be thick, since they get WAY smaller as the water is removed. On a 1/2 sheet pan place a layer of paper towels to cover. Place each slice on the paper, and salt with kosher salt (I like to cover the whole egg plant but don’t go crazy as it will be too salty if you overdo it).) Repeat for each layer until you have sliced up all the eggplants (be sure to peel the eggplants!) Put in fridge overnight to help the eggplant dry out uncovered.

Day 2: Fry the eggplant in a large skillet with olive oil on medium heat. Fry on each side, be sure the pan is hot or the eggplant will absorb ALL the oil and get oily. Cook until brown on each side (around 3-4 minutes total). Put in fridge layered on cookie sheet with new paper towels separating the layers of eggplant slices

Day 3: Prepare the meat and red sauce. Chop the onions finely, heat pan to medium heat and use enough oil to cover the pan to keep things from sticking. To that add the shiitake mushrooms and olive paste, sumac, pepper, 1/2 tsp. Salt. Let cook until onions are translucent and the mushrooms are soft. Add 2 lb. of lamb and cook until the lamb is brown. This might take a while if there is a lot of water in the lamb. Once it starts to brown, add the sauce. If you are using a cast iron pan, I recommend transferring to an non-reactive stainless steel saucepan at this venture. Make sure that the salt content is LOWER than you expect, since the eggplant contains a LOT of it, and you will ruin the dish if you over-salt. Cook until well combined, and place into a container overnight. I just leave the eggplant uncovered in the fridge to further remove extra water.

Day 4: Make the béchamel sauce. You can omit the eggs, but it doesn’t taste as well if you do. Basic béchamel: You need to make a roux (basically fat and flour) by gently heating melted dairy free margarine or a fat of your choice in a medium heat and combining with the sorghum flour. I add the nutmeg, salt, pepper. Then I transfer to a saucepan, and add hot milk to the mixture until it reaches ~ 160 or so. Separate the two eggs, and keep the yolks, give the remaining whites to your Rhodesian Ridgeback who eagerly will consume the whites. Lightly beat the eggs. While stirring, take about 1/3 of the hot mixture and add to the eggs, whisking the whole time. I add the feese at this time. You should be adding from the saucepan to the container with the egg yolks in them. This ‘tempers’ the eggs and keeps you from making scrambled eggs. Quickly add the eggs back into the main saucepan, keeping the heat from medium low or so. Medium on my induction stove works fine, but electric or gas stoves don’t have the fine control that an induction does. I like to measure the temperature. Keep stirring the mixture until it thickens (at about 180 degrees farenheight or so). Once the mixture seems reasonably thick, turn to ‘simmer’ or the lowest setting on your burner, and start assembling the whole shebang.

Final assembly:

Start with a single layer of eggplant pieces in a square or rectangular baking dish with reasonably high sides (I use a 9 inch square pyrex casserole dish). On top of that do little spoonfuls of the béchamel sauce, followed by a layer of the meat mixture. Repeat for each layer, finishing the final layer with simply the béchamel sauce. Put in the oven at 350* F for about 20-30 minutes until the top is browned. Keep in mind that everything is already cooked.

Serve and enjoy.