Italian Greek lasagna that is a combination of traditional Italian lasagna and Greek Moussaka. Making it the best of both worlds! Made with fresh ingredients. Layered with from scratch egg pasta, bolognese sauce, bechamel sauce, grilled eggplant and mozzarella cheese. It is a labor of love to make but very satisfying to eat. If cooking is your love language you will love this recipe.
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The Story Behind my Italian Greek Lasagna Recipe
This recipe is a combination of my two favorite cuisines in one. Italian and Greek. Both are apart of the mediterranean diet. Which focuses on eating mostly plant based foods with lean meats and lots of extra virgin olive oil ( healthy fat.) After eating traditional Italian lasagna in Florence, Italy and eating Moussaka in Naxos, Greece I knew the two needed to be married together.
Both dishes traditionally use bolognese and bechamel sauce. The only difference is one has eggplant and the other uses egg pasta. You can find both in my Italian Greek Lasagna recipe. However if you don’t like egg plant leave it out. You’ll be left with an extra delicious traditional lasagna. If you don’t like pasta or are gluten free, leave out the pasta for an amazing traditional Moussaka. Or do half and half for the best of both worlds. Neither way is wrong and either way is extra delicious! Anything made with love will always be memorable and leave a lasting impression on your mind and taste buds.
Easy Green Salad Recipe to pair with my Italian Greek lasagna
Salad Ingredients:
- 1 head of romaine lettuce washed and thinly chopped
- Living butter lettuce leaves washed and thinly chopped
- 1 carrot peeled and diced
- 1 cucumber peeled and diced
- 1 red pepper washed and diced
- 1/2 a red onion sliced
Directions: Toss all the ingredients together in a large bowl and serve along side the lasagna.
Homemade Ranch Ingredients:
- 1 cup of greek yogurt or sour cream
- 2 tablespoons of avocado mayo
- 2 tablespoons of Clean Mondays Ranch Dressing Mix or (1 tsp onion powder, 1 tsp dried parsley, 1/2 tsp dried dill, 1/2 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper)
- pinch Redmond sea salt
- Sprinkle of paprika and red pepper flakes
- Milk for consistency
Directions: Mix everything together in a small bowl and serve over the homemade salad.
The Best French Bread to Pair with the Lasagna
Diane’s No Fail French Bread Recipe! Make the bread the day before if you want to make homemade croutons for the salad. Use this recipe for homemade bread crumbs. Tap the link! Or Make the bread fresh. Slice the bread and place on a baking sheet with parchment paper. Slather each slice with with butter, sea salt, garlic and parsley. Broil until golden brown for yummy homemade garlic bread.
Homemade Italian Greek Lasagna
Equipment
- 1 Baking Sheet
- Parchment Paper
- 1 Dough Scraper
- 1 Rolling Pin
- 1 large skillet
- 1 Medium Sauce Pan
- 1 Whisk
- 1 Wooden Spoon
- 1 Cheese Grater
- 1 9×13 pan
Ingredients
Egg Pasta
- 2 ¼ cup semolina flour or organic kamut flour
- ¾ teaspoon sea salt
- 3 eggs room temperature
- 3 tablespoons filtered water
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Bolognese Sauce
- 1 24oz jar of raos marinara sauce
- 1 lb grass fed ground beef optional if you don't like meat
- 2 bay leaves
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- pinch red pepper flakes
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
Bechamel Sauce
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 6 tablespoons organic all purpose unbleached flour or organic kamut flour
- 3 cups milk
- ½ cup parmesan cheese
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon sea salt more if needed for taste
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
Roasted Egg Plant
- 2 eggplant washed and sliced
- extra virgin olive oil
- sea salt
- black pepper
Topping:
- 8 oz mozzarella cheese grated
Instructions
Roasted Eggplant
- Preheat the oven to 450 F
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and lay out the sliced egg plant onto it.
- Drizzle the egg plant with olive oil, sea salt and pepper. Flip the egg plant and season the other side.
- Bake the eggplant for 15-20 minutes until lightly browned and softened.
- Remove the eggplant from the oven and turn the oven down to 375 F.
- Let the eggplant rest while making the pasta dough.
Egg Pasta
- Start by mixing the semolina flour and sea salt together. Dump the two onto a clean countertop and use a measuring cup to create a well.
- Crack the eggs into the hole of the flour. Add the water and olive oil too.
- With a pastry scraper mix the wet ingredients into the flour. Once the dough comes together start kneading the dough with your hands for about 10 minutes until smooth and stretchy.
- cover the dough in plastic wrap and let the pasta dough rest for at least 20 minutes.
Bolognese Sauce
- While the pasta dough is resting prep the bolognese sauce. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add a tablespoon olive oil. Let the oil heat up for a minute. Then add the ground beef, seasonings and sautee until cooked through.
- Add the Rao's marinara sauce to the meat along with the bay leaves. Turn the heat down to a simmer and cover the pan with a lid while preparing the bechamel sauce. Make sure to remove the bay leaves from the sauce before using it to layer the lasagna.
Bechamel Sauce
- Add a medium sized sauce pan to the stove over medium heat. Once warm add the butter. Once melted stir in the flour. It should be like a thick paste. Slowly pour in the milk while whisking to avoid clumps. Then bring the mixture to a boil and keep mixing until thick and saucy.
- Remove the sauce from the heat and mix in the sea salt, black pepper, nutmeg and garlic powder. Then stir in the parmesan cheese until it dissolves. Cover the sauce with a lid and set aside to roll out the pasta.
Shape the Pasta Dough
- Now that the pasta has rested, remove the plastic wrap and divide the dough into 3 equal portions. Take one of the portions and cover the rest of the dough so it doesn't dry out.
- Lightly flour a clean surface and roll the dough out into a large rectangle. Big enough to fit a 9×13 pan. Make sure the pasta dough is extra thin. Too thick and it will absorb all the sauce when baking and make the lasagna dry. Repeat this 2 more times until you have 3, 9×13 pasta sheets.
Assemble the lasagna
- The oven should be preheated to 375 F.
- To the bottom of a 9×13 glass pan add a thin layer of bolognese sauce.Then add one of the large sheets of pasta. Add 1/3 of the bolognese sauce onto the pasta sheet. A layer of roasted eggplant over the bolognese. And 1/3 bechamel sauce over the eggplant. Repeat this two more times. There should be three layers of lasagna sheets, bolognese, eggplant and bechamel.
- Now sprinkle 8 oz of grated mozzarella cheese over the third layer. It should be bechamel sauce. Grate a little more parmesan cheese too.
- Place the lasagna into the 375 F oven for 45 minutes. Then broil for 2 minutes to brown the top if you'd like.
- Remove the lasagna from the oven and allow it to cool for 20 minutes before serving. After 20 minutes slice and enjoy.
