Tom's vegetarian moussaka
Ingredients: (serves 4)
• 1 char-grilled aubergine
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• glug of light olive oil
• 1⁄2 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 100 grams lentils
• 400g chopped tomatoes (this is great for when you have a glut)
• 200 grams spinach or chard, stalks finely chopped, leaves roughly chopped
• 150 grams ricotta
• 150 millilitres of yogurt
• pinch grated nutmeg
Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 190C.
2. In a large pan, fry the onion slowly in the light olive oil with the cumin. Meanwhile, simmer the lentils 15 to 25 minutes until tender, then drain.
3. Add the tomatoes to the onion, bring to a boil and add the lentils, then the spinach or chard. As soon as the leaves wilt, remove from the heat.
4. In a bowl, mix the ricotta and yogurt and season with salt and pepper.
5. In an oven-proof dish, layer half the lentil mixture, half the eggplant, then half the yogurt mixture, adding a grating of nutmeg. Then repeat the layers, finishing with the yogurt mixture and another grating of nutmeg.
6. Bake in the oven 25 minutes, until hot right through.
7. Moussaka keeps well in the refrigerator for 4 days. In fact it’s better the day after cooking, as the flavours merge and it sets a little more firmly. Cover and reheat in an oven preheated to 180 celsius until hot right through. Char-grilled eggplants will keep 4 days in a sealed container in the refrigerator. Return to room temperature before serving.
Recipe provided by Tom Hunt for #FoodSavvy Norfolk & Suffolk