Moussaka for the Ages

Original recipe by: Leslie Brenner

Moussaka — layers of potato, eggplant and tomatoey lamb sauce, blanketed with béchamel sauced and baked — is one of the great dishes of Greece. And when it’s carefully made, it’s one of the great dishes anywhere.

Traditionally, the eggplant is fried — and that is certainly wonderful. But I found that roasting slices of eggplant resulted in moussaka that’s even more delicious, as the eggplant melts into the other ingredients. It’s also a lot easier and less messy to manage. Best of all, because the roasted slices are so tender, you can fit them, puzzle-piece-like, into the pan so that you have a very even layer of eggplant, and no one gets bites without it.

I was inspired by a recipe from the great Greek food writer Aglaia Kremezi, who added yogurt to the bechamel; I love how it lightens it up and adds a beautiful tang. (Thank you for the excellent innovation, Aglaia!)

To make this, you’ll …