Mid Week Moussaka

This is the first of a series of recipes which use pre prepped, batch meals which you can make at leisure at the weekend or in the slow cooker and freeze to use at a later date. I did a lot of batch cooking whilst pregnant with Mr B and this continued for the first 6 months of his life as it was the best way to ensure that Mr J and I had proper food, without me having to slave over a hot stove whilst Mr B needed me elsewhere. 

In this mid week moussaka I use tomato based mince which I have batch cooked in the slow cooker (I will blog my recipe at a later date) and froze into portions to use at a later date. This is a great meal to use up that left over Bolognese or Ragout you have sitting in the bottom of the freezer. It's great for the whole family and I use an array of little hand friendly veggies compared to all aubergine or potato to create the layers. This offers variety and different textures and flavours. It's also suitable for a baby led weaning approach as well as spoon feeding as it can easily be mashed or chopped up. 

Serves 4

Your usual tomato based mince recipe, enough to feed 4

½ large aubergine cut into 1cm slices

1 large courgette cut at an angle into 1cm slices

3 large mushrooms cut into 1/2cm slices

1 large baking potato cut into 1/2cm slices

Splash of olive oil

1 tbl spoon unsalted butter

1 tbl spoon plain flour

¾ pint whole milk

Handful of grated cheese

1 large tomato cut into 1/2cm slices

Preheat your oven to 180-200

Slice all your veggies and fry off in a frying pan with a little olive oil omitting the potato. This is to colour them and also cook off a little moisture so you don't end up with a soggy bottom in your moussaka. 

Make a basic white sauce by melting your butter, adding the flour and working it into a paste. Add the milk drop by drop until you have a smooth consistency and continuously stir until the mixture comes to the boil. Grate your cheese and slice the tomato. 

We are now ready to layer up. Start with your potato in a lightly oiled dish. The potato will soak up all the lovely juices and cook well at the bottom. Then put on a layer of mince, then followed by a layer of the mixed veg.

Layer again with the mince, then top with the White sauce, cheese and tomato. Finally pop in a preheated oven at about 180-200 for 20-30 minutes or until the potato has softened and the mince is bubbling.