So, I really liked this dish. The overall consensus was that it was not balanced enough and “too eggplanty,” but I thought it was full of interesting flavors and pretty hearty and satisfying. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of the final product so I’ll describe it: basically a layer of bulgur mixed with a tasty sauce (onion, tomato, potatoes, garlic, oregano, cinnamon and white wine), a layer of roasted cubed eggplant on top, with a layer of bechamel sauce and fresh basil on top.
Cubing 4 pounds of eggplant is kind of a lot of work, but not TERRIBLE. The eggplant bakes while you prepare the sauce (full of really delicious spices and vegetables, and not a lot of prep time involved).
The bechamel sauce is made from butter, milk, flour, Parmesan and nutmeg and only takes about 5 carefully-monitored minutes to prepare.
After the casserole is put together, it just bakes for about a half hour and comes out needing to set for another 10 minutes. A lot of steps went into this preparation, but none of them were very lengthy or involved.
The bottom line:
Not a ton of work, kind of unusual and lots of vegetables and interesting flavors. Since everyone but me seemed to think it was unbalanced and would have tasted better with a layer of ground beef, vegetarian crumbles, or lamb, if you like that kind of thing, I guess I won’t recommend it unless you’re a huge fan of eggplant or moussaka.
Difficulty: a lot of eggplant to cut up, but nothing else took much effort. 2 chef knives out of 5. 🔪🔪
Kid-friendliness: my kids were willing to taste it but were not too impressed. 2 yummy faces out of 5. 😋😋
Time: The eggplant cooks for almost an hour while the sauces are prepared. Then the entire thing has to cook for a half hour and sit for 10 more minutes. I think that’s a bit above average, so 3 snails out of 5. 🐌🐌🐌
Mess: A very average amount of mess. 3 dirty dishes out of 5. 🥣🥣🥣
Overall: 👎🏽
Kind of meh. Unless you really love eggplant!
I couldn’t find the recipe online, so maybe try this one instead and let me know what you think (swap out the the meat if you’d like):
700 Vegetarian Recipes 