Lentil moussaka (vegan)
I first ate moussaka in a Greek restaurant in Darlington. It was called the Blue Lagoon, and had committed to the hilt to an eighties bistro ambience. Googling the décor details is how I learned that one of those straw-wrapped wine bottles they had all over the place is called a “fiasco” and honestly it seems appropriate. My parents loved it, and we went there for any family occasion big enough to mark with a treat, but small enough for the treat to be a slightly oily moussaka, served with chips.
This isn’t really a tribute - I skipped the chips and added a potato base. But I can’t eat moussaka without thinking about the place. Food and memories, the greasier Proust.
The Blue Lagoon closed in 2017 after a rather impressive fifty year run, although I’d not eaten there for at least a decade at that point. I think it’s a gin bar now. Darlington’s a pretty credible food town these days, and you suspect tastes had moved on. But it’ll always have a kitschy corner of my heart.
So what’s going on here apart from nostalgia?
Lentils, mostly, and an attempt to get the whole thing to work vegan.
I reckon I’ve largely succeeded - it’s deep and rich and the texture isn’t too stodgy, despite all the carbs. You can make it lighter by cutting the potatoes and doing two layers of aubergines. What it does miss is the deep top layer, custardy and quivering. That enriched bechamel with a little resistance and wobble and slightly too much nutmeg. Hard to quite nail it without the eggs, but this does turn golden on top and set slightly, and the layer would be thicker if I’d used a deeper dish. Heck, it’s most of a litre of sauce, so you’d bloody hope so.
Anyway, if you fancy a meatless moussaka, and have a few hours to spare, here’s my best shot.
Ingredients:
Filling
Potatoes, 400g (any non-waxy)
Aubergine, 3 large (about 750g)
Chickpeas, 1 can
Puy lentils, 200g (see notes)
Red lentils, 50g
Onion, 1 medium
Garlic, 4 cloves
Dried porcini mushrooms, a big pinch (about 4g)
Dark soy sauce, 1tsp
Cinnamon, 2tsp
Oregano, 1tsp
Bay leaves, 3 ish
Red wine, 100ml
Tomatoes, 1 tin (chopped, or mush them)
Marmite, 1tsp
Bechamel
Oat milk, 750ml
Flour, 100g
Plant-based butter, 100g
Nutmeg, loads
Pepper
Vegan Parmesan, 30g (see notes)
Gram flour, 3tbsp
Optional: white miso paste, 1/2tsp
Serves 6 just about, 4 extremely generously.
Notes:
Cheese: Plant-based parmesan alternatives are pretty credible these days, because getting umami and funk out of cashews and nutritional yeast was never the hard part. Luckily for us, we don't need a gooey melting cheese here, we need a lick of umami and funk. If you're going veggie rather than vegan, use the sharp cheese of your choice.
Bechamel: Ordinarily you would thicken this with eggs, giving the moussaka its glorious wobbly custard hat. The gram flour batter will just about set it, but doesn't add the richness. It'd set firmer with more gram flour, but start to affect the flavour.
Lentils: Puy lentils are a regionally-protected (and therefore more expensive) variety of green lentil from the French Auvergne. They're small and earthy-peppery with a mottled skin in gorgeous grey greens. They take less or no soaking time and a quicker cook than a standard larger green lentil, hive slightly more protein, and retain their shape more after cooking. If you don't want to fork out for them, plenty of places stock a similar variety without the full terroir character, and under all these other flavours you won't be missing much. Look for small and speckled green.
Potatoes: Heresy? Perhaps, but deliciously so. Also the spud layer on the bottom adds structure and makes it easier to serve cleanly. Also also, the moussaka we all know and love was developed in the 1920s, and the influences it drew from a varied and potato embracing. I think we’ll cope.
If you’re not strictly vegan, use dairy cheese and one whole medium egg plus the yolk of another in place of the gram flour batter to thicken the sauce. It’ll be slightly nicer but there’s not masses in it.
100g of flour to 750ml of milk gives a pretty thick sauce. It’s about double the flour for pouring consistency. But it works.
Instructions:
There's several bitty prep steps here, so I think of this as Sunday afternoon food. I'd allow three hours of fairly constant attention.
First, soak the lentils. It isn't essential (there's a long cook) but it helps a bit and rinses off some of the starch. No extra time, just do it first and use the prep time.
Soak the porcini in a little boiling water for at least ten minutes.
Heat the oven to 180°c
Slice the aubergines into roughly half centimetre rounds, brush them lightly with olive oil, and put them in the oven on trays in a single layer, until softened - about 30 mins. Baking paper is probably a good idea here.
Peel the potatoes if it bothers you. It doesn’t so I don't.
Cut the potatoes to about 1 centimetre thickness, or your widest mandoline gauge if you're feeling impatient, and blanche them in salted boiling water for 4-5 mins or until just tender to a knife point. Drain and leave to dry out a little.
Mix the potatoes with a little oil and arrange them over the base of the eventual cooking dish. Pop this in the oven for about 30 mins, so they get a little crisp to form a more robust base layer. Check periodically - we want some texture but not a rosti.
Drain the chickpeas, keeping the liquid, and pulse them very very briefly in a blender to get a rough mince-like texture. Yes, this is a pain in the arse. No, don't skip it - it's the texture secret sauce.
Finely dice the onion, crush the garlic, drain and fine chop the porcini, and have the spices to hand.
Consider your mise well and truly en fucking place. Let's cook some lentils.
Set the onion frying on a medium heat until softened, for about 12 mins, then add the garlic, chopped porcini, and spices. Cook for a few mins until aromatic, and add the drained lentils and chickpea mix. Work it all together, and add the tomatoes, porcini soaking water, chickpea water, wine, marmite, and soy. Amalgamate well, and add a little more water if needed, so that everything is covered. Add the bay leaves and simmer on low, stirring periodically, for 30-40 mins until thickened to a rich sauce. Check for seasoning - it might want salt, or extra marmite to punch up the depth.
At this point you're gonna feel pretty done, but there's still bechamel to make. Sorry.
I don't really want to give instructions for bechamel, but if I tell you to google it you might find the no-roux all-in-one version that Delia did a few years back, and I don't want to get the blame. So:
Melt the butter on a medium heat, and then stir in the flour, working it into a coarse paste. Cook this for a few minutes, stirring. It will start to look a little biscuity, but shouldn't colour much.
Add the milk, a little at a time, stirring well (or whisking) to get it amalgamated to a smooth sauce. It will thicken as it heats.
Once amalgamated, add the nutmeg and beat in the cheese. For extra umami and tang, add the optional 1/2 tsp of miso paste or do something clever with nutritional yeast. Set aside to cool a little.
When you're ready to assemble the whole dish, whisk the gram flour into 50ml of water and whisk this into the sauce.
Now layer up the moussaka: potato, half the lentils, aubergines, half the lentils, bechamel on top. Try not to overflow the dish like I did.
Finish in the oven for 30-40 mins (180°c), until bubbling and sightly browned.
Make yourself a G&T. Sit down. Drink most of it. Remember you need to put something on the side, and frantically improvise a salad. I suggest tomatoes, cucumber, parsley, and a basic dressing.
