Lamb Mince Moussaka

Method

Cut eggplant into thin 1cm slices. Brush slices with oil, season with salt and put in the oven at 250ºC , or as hot as you can go, for 8 - 10 minutes until golden – turning the pieces over half way through cooking.
Saute onion at moderate temperature for 5 minutes – add the garlic and cook another 5 minutes. Put onion and garlic aside. Salt and brown meat in batches at a high temperature, you don’t want the mince to ‘boil’. Put all meat back into the pan, add cinnamon and onion and garlic, tomato paste, deglaze with wine at high temperature. Then add lemon zest, Tomato Sugo, the parsley, and lemon thyme and simmer for 20 minutes for flavours to combine.
To make the béchamel or cheese sauce, melt the butter in a pot and then sprinkle the flour over it, stirring well to combine. Continue to cook for a little while until the flour colours slightly and it loses that raw flavour. Remove from the heat and pour the milk first and then the stock in slowly, at first, whisking continuously to avoid lumps. Return pot to the heat after every inclusion. Return to the stove and continue to cook until thickened – stirring often until thickly coats back of the spoon. Add the nutmeg and seasoning and lay a piece of plastic wrap or kitchen paper directly on top of the sauce so that it doesn’t form a skin, set aside until needed.
To make the moussaka, spray an oven proof dish with non-stick cooking spray or a little Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Place a layer of eggplant on the bottom of the dish and then a layer of lamb mince over this. Continue to alternate between eggplant and lamb mince, finishing with a layer of eggplant. Pour the cheese sauce over the eggplant then mix the breadcrumbs with the grated parmesan, Preserved Lemon and lemon thyme and generously sprinkle over the top of the béchamel. Bake in a pre-heated 200°C oven for half an hour.