"There are two kinds of people in this world… there's them and there's us." …funny words surprisingly uttered to us by a then-waitress now-kind-of-superstar living in London, while sitting in a Greek-run coffee shop in Montreal, sometime in the late 80's. "Us" Greeks (also known as "my people") and just about everyone else (also and equally lovingly known as "them") love eating moussaka. Us Greeks hate making moussaka. A multi-layered partly-fried then oven-baked assembly of potatoes, then meat filling, then eggplants, then meat filling again, then zucchini (and perhaps a third layer of meat filling) and finally a creamy béchamel sauce to top it all off. This is the type of meal that our loving parents will only make once or twice a year, the reason being is that it takes half a day to prepare (at best and if you’re organized) and for which we show our well-deserved annual, bi-annual (if you’re lucky) and sometimes necessarily eternal (or it may just seem like an eternity since the last time you ate some) gratitude. Now when you do decide to give in to the moussaka love urges (yours or theirs and the ensuing spur-of-the-moment promise you may have made in response to these in a moment of weakness) and you get ready to set the machine in motion (because you did the math and loosely calculated the maximum quantities that you think you can handle and bought all of the ingredients and have had them laying around in the fridge and/or pantry for several days now and you very well know that the passing of time will not necessarily be very kind to them nor improve their taste but you can’t just freeze them because fresher is better and every day you're toying with the possibility of waiting just one more day before actually committing yourself and now you're considering a change of menu because everybody loves a barbecue and also guiltily encouraging the more drastic eventuality of just letting everything rot so you can throw all the stuff away because then and only then will you be free and what's the big deal anyways because you know you can just make it another time…). Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the hate part of making moussaka (also known as gradual disengagement). Where was I ? Yes, when you finally decide to take the leap (and subsequently clear your schedule for the day, the second half is for cleaning-up) and start making the moussaka, "it" will most probably require the hugest oven pan you own (and perhaps counter space that you don't) and you've most certainly already informed and invited over the not-so-few chosen ones (family and friends and colleagues and neighbors) to be part of this unique (too late to back out now) occasion during which your efforts will be evaluated, acknowledged and complimented (by those guests whose satisfactions were met and who may hope to get re-invited again the next time) because you know (and they do too) in your heart-of-hearts, that the next moussaka meal you make will either be not before the end of this summer or the beginning of the next). Why the hesitation you ask? Because when us Greeks "think moussaka", we feel obligated to "think big", because we seldom make it and because oven pans are usually sized from large to extra large and because we'll have to invite many people over to start and to finish it. First, you need to prepare a meat sauce, easy enough, a béchamel cream sauce, manageable. Now comes the hard part… large quantities of vegetables that require slicing (into round relatively thin disks), perhaps salting and eliminating the excess water content of some vegetables before frying them, frying them separately, again and again and again… Try imagining 3 frying pans, filled up with oil, frying and turning over the vegetables once they're half-cooked so the other side gets cooked, oil splattering everywhere, blotting the excess oil on paper towels, etc… Now imagine 9 frying pans, because you'll probably have to repeat the vegetable-frying step 2 more times for the quantities needed since you'll be layering and tightly overlapping each layer of each different vegetable, with the meat filling in between the 3 layers and topping it with a thick layer of béchamel sauce that you’d prefer to remain on the top and not ooze downwards! Did I mention the washing-up ? If you were patient enough to read this raging rant, then my moussaka version will seem like a breeze… life is but a dream. This recipe (and rest assured, most probably the longest I'll ever share with you) is for my dear Greek-Canadian friend in Ottawa (great cook and mother of my godchild) who I had called on a Sunday night (a few weeks ago) and who was the first to suggest I start this blog and who, right before the end of our long-distance telephone conversation, had a second eye-opening comment by cleverly adding "Can you please figure it out a way to make moussaka easier and less painful !?" Here is my solution : My adaptation and version is, first and foremost, based on single-portioned baking sizes, allowing you to easily make 2 or 4 or 6 good-sized servings (each weighing about 345 grams each). The quantities of ingredients in my recipe here are for 4 individual servings or the M (for medium-sized and manageable) version. I've used 4 round stainless steel baking rings for this recipe as you can see in the photos, each about 9cm x 5,5cm, which is still less than the smallest oven dish, (ramekins are much easier to use and fine too, by the way). You can easily divide the recipe by half (for just 2 portions or size S for small) hence making it much faster and more manageable (at least for a first try) … or increase it by half for 6 pieces (or size L for large), in this case you could just use the smallest size roasting pan you probably own (usually about 25cm x19cm / 10 x 7 inches) instead of baking rings… My parents’ moussaka would probably be an XXXL size at least (12-16 servings minimum). I've also omitted the frying of vegetables. Why ? Because it's heavier to digest and because it takes so long. I simply oven-bake the vegetables (tossed with olive oil and salt) on waxed-paper covered baking sheets. If you make the 2 portion version, then 1 oven-sized baking sheet will do, for 4 portions then two and if you make the 6 portion size, then 3 sheets. I also use 3 types of vegetable layers instead of the usual 1 or 2, which makes it fuller in taste and which allows me to make and use only 2 layers of meat filling. You could prepare the 3 steps separately and at different times and also make it more often for fewer people at a time… Good Luck and Kalì Òrexi*. *Bon Appétit in Greek