Moussaka

Preparation:

Preparation: Finely chop the onion, place it cold in a pan with a spoonful of oil and a few spoonfuls of broth and cook for 5 minutes, covered, possibly adding more broth, to keep it soft and not browning. Cut the lamb into pieces; remove half of the sautéed vegetables and add the lamb to the pan, making it flavour, add a spoonful of tomato concentrate and the garlic, if you like; sprinkle with hot broth, season with salt and pepper and cook the lamb covered for about 20 minutes. If necessary, add some hot broth while cooking, adding it a little at a time. Turn off the flame, let it cool, debone the meat and pass it to the mixer. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees; slice the round aubergine, lightly salt the slices and put them in a colander to lose the vegetable water for at least half an hour. With an arched potato peeler, peel the oblong aubergines, trying to obtain the widest and longest strips of peel possible. Blanch them for half a minute in boiling salted water, drain them and put them to dry on absorbent kitchen paper. Divide the peeled aubergines in half, score the flesh lengthwise on the flat side and then lengthwise forming cubes; add salt, transfer them to the oven plate or to a baking tray and cook for about half an hour. When they are cooked, chop them, put them in a cloth and squeeze the pulp well. Then add the sautéed onion kept aside, the minced lamb, the béchamel, a spoonful of minced parsley, the remaining tomato paste, the egg; season with salt, pepper and mix to mix the filling. Remove the round aubergine slices from the colander, fry them quickly in plenty of oil, salt them and put them on absorbent paper to drain the excess oil. Coat a lightly oiled baking dish with part of the aubergine ribbons, placing the shiny side in contact with the container and letting them slightly overflow from the baking dish. Continue by alternating layers of filling and slices of fried aubergines. Finish with a layer of filling, fold the protruding part of the ribbons over it and finish with those kept aside. Brush with oil, place the dish in a bain-marie over the flame for 5 minutes, then transfer it to the oven set to 180 degrees and cook for about 1 hour. To better appreciate the mix of flavors, serve the moussaka hot or even slightly warm, but not hot. A word of advice: lamb meat shouldn't be cooked for long; respect the times indicated, otherwise the filling risks being too dry.