Sweet Potato Moussaka made with leftover Roast Lamb. A rich tomato and lamb sauce, layered between thinly sliced sweet potato and topped with a thick layer of béchamel sauce and melted cheese.
Sweet Potato Moussaka
I have been planning on making Moussaka for ages, pretty much since I watched George make it on Masterchef a few years ago. I thought it would be a great hearty dinner without all the pasta like in lasagne. I think I had been putting it off guessing the eggplant wouldn’t be a hit with my kids, plus there are a few extra steps in preparing the eggplant that kinda put me off too. Anyway, I had a heap of roast lamb left over and rather than doing my usual Leftover Roast Lamb Biryani I thought I would try a Moussaka with sweet potato instead.
It turned out delicious! And really quite easy, still three steps involved but each only took a few minutes and could be staggered over the afternoon.
Step 1
Cook the onion, garlic and tomatoes then mix through the leftover roast lamb. This is the meat layer and can be done in less than 20 minutes.
Step 2
Make the béchamel sauce. You don’t want to do this too early or it will start setting in the saucepan. It only takes a few minutes so do it just before you are about to start layering. This recipes adds egg to help give a nice thick béchamel layer.
Step 3
Layer everything and top with cheese. Make sure your sweet potatoes are sliced super thin with a mandolin, or you might want to parboil them for just a few minutes in boiling water to start the cooking. Cook for 35 minutes, keeping an eye that your cheese doesn’t burn.
Layer the meat and sweet potatoes alternating then top with the béchamel, so you get a nice thick layer of white sauce at the top.
Sweet Potato Moussaka
Description
A rich tomato and lamb sauce made with leftover roast lamb, layered between thinly sliced sweet potato and topped with a thick layer of béchamel sauce and melted cheese.
Ingredients
LAMB LAYER
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 onions, finely diced
- 2 cloves garlic, finely diced
- 400g tomatoes, diced
- 500g leftover roast lamb
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
BÉCHAMEL SAUCE
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 5 tablespoons plain flour
- 21/2 cups / 625ml milk
- 1/2 cup Mozzarella cheese, grated
- 1 egg & 1 egg yolk, lightly whisked
- salt & pepper to season
SWEET POTATO LAYER
- 1 large sweet potato, sliced really thinly
TOP
- 1 cup Mozzarella cheese, grated
Instructions
Pre heat oven to 180°C.
LAMB LAYER
Place the oil in a large frypan over medium heat and cook the onion and garlic until translucent, about 4 minutes stirring regularly. Add the tomatoes and cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir through the lamb and tomato paste and keep warm until ready to layer.
BECHAMEL SAUCE
In a medium saucepan melt the butter then stir in the flour. Cook for 1 minutes stirring constantly. Add the milk a little at a time, stirring well each time. Remove from heat and whisk in the cheese. Allow to cool for 5 minutes then add the egg and season with salt and pepper. Cover until ready to layer.
TO ASSEMBLE
Place one-third of the lamb mixture in a large baking dish, top with one-third of the sweet potato, then repeat until all the sweet potato and lamb are used. Spread the warm béchamel sauce over the top and sprinkle with cheese.
Bake for 35 minutes until heated through and golden on top.
Notes
I used this recipe to make two Moussaka, one for the freezer and one for dinner.
Cloud placemat
Napkin and crockery from The Lemontree
Photography backdrop from Oz Backdrops
Canon EOS 6D
Sigma AF 50mm F1.4 lens
Adobe Photoshop
Bluehost web hosting
WordPress Foodie Pro theme
**Some of these are affiliate links