Frying Pan Moussaka
This quick one pan dish of well-seasoned lamb and aubergine is just as good as a traditional baked moussaka. The flavours are rich but fresh-tasting, and the dish looks lovely brought straight to the table. Serve with a large mixed leaf salad.
Ingredients
- 1 medium aubergine (about 250g), cut into roughly 2cm chunks
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 250 g lamb mince (20% fat or less)
- ½ medium onion, peeled and finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- ½ tsp dried mint
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 tsp plain flour
- 50 ml red wine or extra stock
- 200 ml lamb stock (made with ½ lamb cube)
- 227 g can chopped tomatoes
- 2 tbsp tomato puree
- 75 g feta cheese, drained and broken into small chunks
- small handful of fresh mint leaves
- flaked sea salt
- ground black pepper
- large mixed leaf salad, to serve
Instructions
- Put the aubergine chunks in a medium, non-stick frying pan and drizzle with the oil. Season with salt and black pepper and place the pan over a high heat. Stir-fry for 3-5 minutes, or until the aubergine is nicely browned but not cooked through. Tip into a medium bowl and set aside.
- Put the minced lamb, onion, garlic, oregano, dried mint and bay leaf in the pan used to fry the aubergine and cook over a medium heat for 5 minutes, stirring and squishing the meat against the side of the pan with a wooden spoon to break up the mince.
- Stir in the flour and season with salt and plenty of freshly ground black pepper. Pour over the wine, add the lamb stock, tomatoes and tomato puree. Bring to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Return the aubergine pieces to the pan and cook for a further 5-10 minutes, or until the lamb is tender, the aubergine is soft and the sauce is thick, stirring occasionally.
- Drop the feta chunks on top. Cook for a further 1-2 minutes without stirring, until the feta begins to melt. Scatter over the mint leaves and serve with a large mixed leaf salad.
Notes
Flat-freeze the cooked and cooled moussaka without the feta cheese and mint. Reheat from frozen with an extra 100ml water in a large non-stick frying pan for about 20 minutes, stirring frequently, until piping hot. Top with feta and mint.
If you don’t have a small can of tomatoes in stock, use half a 400g can instead. You can freeze the leftover tomatoes for another day, or decant and keep in the fridge for up to 3 days before using. Add to soups, or to enrich tomato based sauces and stews.