Even Greek food can be gluten-free — including this finger-licking-good moussaka recipe from Australia-based cookbook author, food connoisseur and TV personality Helen Tzouganatos.
Tzouganatos has become affectionately known as Australia’s “gluten-free queen,” the first person people turn to when seeking the trick on how to turn their favorite recipes into foods that all can eat.
Originating from Sydney, Tzouganatos discovered she was a coeliac 13 years ago during IVF treatment, after which her doctor told her to eliminate gluten from her diet to heal inflammation in her body.
“There were not many gluten free offerings in the market at the time. You couldn’t even find a single loaf of gluten free bread in the supermarket and what was available in health food stores was horrible,” Tzouganatos said. “So I started experimenting with gluten-free ingredients at home.”
After more than a decade of trial-and-error Tzouganatos said she has now “mastered” the art of gluten-free cooking.
Before her culinary adventures, Tzouganatos she spent most of her career working as a marketing manager for some of the largest food companies in the world — including Nestle and Kellogg’s. But she said that her real passion always lay in “making beautiful food from scratch” in her home kitchen.
In 2015 she left the corporate world and launched her food blog “Hungry and Fussy” as a creative outlet and way of staying mentally stimulated with three young kids at home.
Fast forward four years and Tzouganatos has published her first hardcover cookbook, become a TV presenter and hosted Australia’s first gluten-free TV series, “Loving Gluten Free” for SBS Food.
See the ingredients and instructions for her gluten-free moussaka recipe — and try bringing it into your own kitchen.
Ingredients
** Serves 6 – 8
- 2 large eggplants, thinly sliced
- 2 large sebago potatoes – peeled, sliced and steamed*
- Olive oil for frying
Lamb Bolognese
- 3 tbs olive oil
- 1 onion, finely diced
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 500g lamb mince
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tbs rosemary, chopped
- 600g tin crushed tomato
- 2 tbs tomato paste
- Cinnamon quill
- Pinch of grated nutmeg
- Sea salt and cracked pepper to season
Bechamel
- 100g butter
- 100g gluten free plain flour
- 800mL full cream milk
- 100g kefalograviera cheese, grated
- 1 beaten egg
- Pinch of cinnamon
** NOTE: Potato slices can be steamed in the microwave or in a steam basket on the stovetop.
Instructions
Conventional Method
- For the lamb bolognese, heat olive oil in a medium sized pot, add onion and garlic and sauté until soft.
- Add mince, oregano, rosemary and brown.
- Add crushed tomato, tomato paste, cinnamon quill and nutmeg. Cover and simmer on low heat for 1 hour. Season with salt and pepper.
- Salt the eggplant slices. Drizzle olive oil in a frypan and pan fry the eggplant over medium – high heat in batches. Drain eggplant on a paper towel.
- For the béchamel melt butter over low heat in a saucepan. Stir in flour until a smooth paste is formed.
- Slowly pour in milk stirring simultaneously. Keep stirring until a thick consistency is achieved. Stir in cheese and cinnamon.
- Remove from heat and whisk in egg. Season to taste.
- To assemble the moussaka oil one rectangular casserole dish or 6 x mini baking dishes. Lay eggplant on base. Top eggplant layer with lamb bolognese. Place potato slices on top of lamb and cover with béchamel. Grate with extra kefalogaveria cheese.
- Bake in preheated oven at 400 F for 45 minutes or until golden.
Thermomix Method
- For the lamb bolognese chop onion, garlic and rosemary in mixing bowl 3 sec/speed 7. Scrape down sides of bowl.
- Add oil sauté for 3 minutes/Varoma/speed 1.
- Add lamb mince and cook 10 min/215 F/reverse mode/speed 1.
- Add crushed tomato, tomato paste, oregano, cinnamon quill, nutmeg, salt, pepper and cook 15 – 20 min on 100C/reverse mode/speed 1. Adjust seasoning if necessary.
- Salt the eggplant slices. Drizzle olive oil in a frypan and pan fry the eggplant over medium – high heat in batches. Drain eggplant on a paper towel.
- For the béchamel, place cubed cheese in mixing bowl and grate 10 sec/speed 8. Add flour,milk and seasoning into mixing bowl and cook 9 min/200 F/speed 4, or until desired thickness is achieved. Add egg and mix 10 sec/speed 4.
- To assemble the moussaka oil one rectangular casserole dish or 6 x mini baking dishes. Lay eggplant on base. Top eggplant layer with lamb bolognese. Place potato slices on top of lamb and cover with béchamel. Grate with extra kefalogaveria cheese.
- Bake in preheated oven at 400 F for 45 minutes or until golden.
About Helen Tzouganatos
Tzouganatos is a gluten-free cookbook author, TV presenter, food photographer and recipe developer — and she’s obsessed with making delicious gluten-free food from scratch for family and friends. She loves sharing her passion for food with others, so she taught herself to use a camera and started her gluten-free food blog “Hungry and Fussy” in 2015 as a creative outlet. Her latest cookbook “Hungry and Fussy” is available online and she currently hosts her show “Loving Gluten Free” on Australia’s SBS FOOD channel.
Click here to purchase her cookbook
