Musaka, musaka, musaka!...

...For some reason, I've been stuck on "The Lion King" since about dinner-time last night...

Hmm.

Anyway, I made some for my fiance's birthday dinner as I mentioned in my earlier post...  it was delicious.  I got a (very basic) recipe from my mother-in-law and I looked up a few others online and came up with this:

Sorry about the not-so appetizing picture...

it's the best I could do with only a phone 

and a plate of leftovers.

Shame on me for not planning ahead.

Musaka

• 5 or 6 medium-large potatoes (I used red, but I'm sure any kind will do), peeled and sliced about 1/4" thick
• one large yellow onion, diced
• 1 lb. ground beef
• season salt (I used Lawry's, but again any kind will do)
• 2 eggs
• about 1/8 cup of heavy cream or milk
• salt and pepper to taste
• olive oil

Preheat oven to 450*


Heat a drizzle of olive oil (about 2 Tbsp.) in a large frying pan and add onion.  Sweat onion until it's almost translucent.  Add ground beef and cook until there is no more pink, but it's not quite browned (baking it in the oven later will help it to finish).  Season to taste with season salt, salt and pepper (I just used the season salt and added salt and pepper to my plate when I ate it).  Set aside.


I peeled and sliced my potatoes at his point, which allowed my meat mixture to cool enough to handle.


Drizzle a thin layer of olive oil in the bottom of a 9x13 glass baking dish.  Lay down a layer of potatoes, slightly layering them on top of each other.  Now spread 1/2 of the meat mixture over the potatoes.  Lay down another layer of potatoes and top with the rest of the meat mixture.  Now add one more layer of potatoes to the top.  


So, it goes like this:

1. potatoes
2. meat
3. potatoes
4. meat
5. potatoes

(Apparently, we're a real "meat and potatoes" kind of family....  haha.  Yeah, that was lame)


Cover your baking dish loosely with some foil and bake for 30 minutes.


Meanwhile, whisk together the eggs and cream (or milk).


Now (when the 30 mins. are up) drizzle the egg mixture evenly over the meat and potatoes and bake uncovered for another 10-15 minutes or until the potatoes are tender and everything is starting to look nice and golden.  You'll know it's done when you can hear it...  just trust me on this.


If you try this recipe, please let me know what you think of it!  From what I've been told, it's a pretty traditional Bosnian/Herzegovinian dish...  and what counts is that my fiance was pleased with it.