Moussaka with cauliflower béchamel

This recipe went down like a treat in our house. I love béchamel sauce, but who wants the unnecessary white flour needed to make it? I came across this recipe for creamy cauliflower sauce from Pinch of Yum and it is ridiculously yummy and a great way to sneak more veggies onto kid’s plates. By adding the carrots to the mince, I was able to almost double the amount of the beef layer and once again sneaking those veggies in.

Moussaka with cauliflower béchamel Credit: Jo Anderson

• serves

  4

• prep

  20 minutes

• cook

  1:45 hour

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, peeled and finely diced
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
• 500 g grass-fed beef mince
• 2 tins (800 g) diced organic tomatoes
• 3 organic carrots, grated
• 1½ eggplants, sliced into 5 mm discs

Cauliflower béchamel

• 1 head cauliflower
• ½ cup vegetable stock
• ½ cup milk
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
• 25 g butter
• salt and pepper to season
• 150 g Parmesan cheese, grated

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 190ºC.

Place 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large frypan on medium-high heat, add the onion and sauté until tender, then add the garlic and sauté for another minute. Add the beef mince and stir to brown all over. Add the diced tomatoes and the carrots and turn the heat down to medium-low for an hour, adding a little water as you go so the sauce doesn't dry out. 

Meanwhile, brush the eggplant slices on each side with remaining olive oil and bake in the oven on a lined baking sheet for 10 minutes or until they are soft and starting to brown, then remove from the oven and set aside. Turn the oven down to 180ºC. 

To make the béchamel sauce, cut the cauliflower into small florets and cook them in a large pot of boiling water until tender, about 5-10 minutes. Remove the cauliflower and add to a blender with the stock and milk (you may need to do this in batches). Blend until smooth.

Lightly sauté the garlic and butter in a medium-sized pot on medium heat, then add the cauliflower sauce and heat through for about a minute.

In a lasagne dish, layer the ingredients beginning with the beef mince on the bottom, then half of the Parmesan, then spread out the eggplant and pour over cauliflower béchamel (if you feel like you have too much cauliflower sauce, just freeze the remaining to use another time). Top it off with the remaining Parmesan and bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until the Parmesan has melted and browned.

Recipe from The Luminous Kitchen by Jo Anderson, with photographs by Jo Anderson.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.