Interpretive Moussaka

So Nathan, dish washing man extraordinaire just finished cleaning the kitchen in time for me to completely trash it with my interpretation of moussaka. I love moussaka but when you don't start cooking until 8:30pm the last thing you want to do is wait for a sauce to simmer for an hour! So I have made some shortcuts and changes to the recipe in George Calombaris' cookbook "From the Hellenic Heart" to have a moussaka that tastes fantastic and can be cooked in 1hr.

• Preheat oven to 200 degrees
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• dried thyme, good shake
• rosemary, a few sprigs, chopped
• 500g lamb mince
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 cinammon quill
• 1 tin diced tomatoes (440g)
• 1/2 eggplant, sliced thinly
• 1 potato, sliced thinly
• 50g butter
• 50g flour
• 250mL milk
• 1 egg, lightly whisked
• 1/3 cup cheese (whatever kind you want), grated

• Saute the onion, herbs and garlic for about 2 mins and then add the mince. Cook until the mince is browned and then add tomatoes, tomato paste and cinnamon quill and leave to simmer gently.
• Meanwhile fry the eggplant and potato on both sides of each slice and set aside.
• Make bechamel sauce by melting the butter in a saucepan on low heat and then stir in flour. Heat the milk for 2mins in the microwave and then slowly add to butter/flour mixture constantly stirring over low heat. When all the milk is in and the sauce is smooth set aside to cool for 5mins.
• Assemble the moussaka - a layer of eggplant, then half the meat/sauce, then a layer of potato and top with other half of meat/sauce. 
• Add the egg to the bechamel sauce and stir through - it will split! But don't worry keep stirring and it will come back together. Then stir the cheese through the sauce (I used tasty cheese, but I have used parmesan in the past - depends what there is enough of in the fridge). 
• Spread the bechamel over the top of the moussaka and bake in oven until bechamel has gone a golden brown colour (should take about 30mins depending on how thick a layer you have).

Yum, yum, yum! It will make the whole house smell awesome. And it is such a fantastic, comforting winter meal. Ready just in time for me to start watching the Tour de France - success! Pics to come - can't do now - must eat!