I washed and dried 3 lbs of very large zucchini. I halved and sliced them and fried them in corn oil. I set these aside. Next I trimmed and sliced 3 very large eggplants and fried these in the remaining oil. I had to add some more. The reason you fry the zucchini first is they absorb less oil than the eggplants, who are apparently thirsty suckers.
I had made a sauce beforehand. when all the frying is done, I layered the large-sized baking pan (with high sides) seen in the picture above with sauce, eggplant, sauce, shredded mozzarella, a generous sprinkling of grated parmigiano, zucchini.
Keep doing this till you reach the top. Be magnanimous with your cheese, your guests and family will appreciate it with each mouthful.
I baked this for close to an hour--on high--first 15 minutes at 400 degrees in a pre-heated oven, and then 40-50 minutes on 375 degrees. If you don't want this crusty at about the 1/2 hour mark cover with a tent of aluminum foil.
Let cool and refrigerate. I don't know why but this is always better and tastier the next day after it "reposes."
Things to do while frying: you can talk to a friend, write mental notes for a new blog, listen to music, dance a few steps in between the frying, answer the phone, dash down a phrase or image for a new poem, or cook something else on the back burner. If you have a TV nearby you can even watch some part of a movie you already saw so many times you memorized the script.
Multi-tasking is part of a woman's DNA...of course you can do these things, how do I know?
I do them.
To make moussaka, you can do as above and also add layers of chopped beef (I mix in some tomatoe sauce), potatoes, and besciamelle.
NOTE:
Roux is the base of besciamelle. La besciamella isn't anything more than a mixture of milk and butter that is thickened...some use a smattering of flour or corn starch, but it's not necessary. This "white sauce" is aromatized with nutmeg. Almost always when working with with a white sauce, nutmeg is used for fragrance.
