Lamb with aubergines is one of my favourite things and moussaka my perfect comfort food. It is a dish I have made so many times without deciding which herb to put into the meat sauce. Coriander is good, so is rosemary. Parsley with mint is listed in one of my favourite cookbooks, The Real Greek at Home, by Theodore Kyriakou and Charles Campion but it was watching Rick Stein in his latest TV adventure that gave the answer. Bay leaves! Bay leaves with cinnamon give the perfect taste. -Susan

This is not a quick meal to make and you may wish to start the day before by cooking the tomatoes or simply decide to use passata instead. It needs only a green salad to be served with it

500g ripe plum tomatoes
750g minced lamb
Vegetable oil
2-3 aubergines, sliced lengthways approximately 0.75cm thick
1 large potato, sliced as for aubergines (optional)
2-3 medium courgettes, sliced lengthways as for aubergines
1 Spanish onion, finely sliced
1 heaped tsp cinnamon
2 bay leaves
Olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the sauce:
400-500ml milk
100g butter
100g plain flour
½ tsp grated nutmeg
75g Kefalotiri cheese (or pecorino cheese if not available), grated
1 large egg
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Start by cutting the tops off the tomatoes and putting them, flat side down, in a large frying pan with a lid. Add a little olive oil and cook slowly with the lid on until the juice starts to run from the tomatoes and the skins wrinkle. Remove the pan from the heat and, when cool enough to handle, take off the tomato skins by pinching them with your fingers.

Return the pan to a low to medium heat and cook the sauce until the tomatoes are soft and the sauce is thick. Season and put to one side.

Again using a large frying pan with plenty of vegetable oil, cook the aubergine slices in batches until they are browned on both sides. Drain on kitchen paper. Then, in the same oil, fry the potato slices (if using) until slightly brown on both sides. Drain on kitchen paper. Finally, cook the courgettes in the same way.

In a clean frying pan, with a little olive oil, gently fry the onion slices until soft but not coloured, then add the lamb, increase the heat, and stir around until the meat is coloured. Add the cinnamon, bay leaves and season.

Add the tomato sauce and turn into a casserole dish. Cover and cook in a medium oven (180°C) for 30-40 minutes. If the sauce does become dry during cooking, add a little red wine.

Using a deep sided oven dish, begin to build up the layers of the moussaka. Starting with potatoes (if using) or aubergine, put a layer of vegetables at the bottom of the dish, then add some of the sauce (remove the bay leaves before adding the sauce), then an aubergine layer, more meat sauce, then the courgettes, then more sauce, and finally top with a layer of aubergines. If not using potatoes, three vegetable levels, starting and ending with aubergines and courgettes as the middle layer may be enough.

To make a cheese sauce for the topping, melt the butter in a pan and add the flour. Stir over a low heat for about five minutes until it is slightly coloured and then, by degrees, add the milk. Continue to stir. Add the nutmeg and season well. When the sauce is thick, add the grated cheese. Stir well and remove the pan from the heat.

When the sauce is cool, beat the egg and stir it into the sauce.

Pour the cheese sauce over the top layer of aubergine and bake for about an hour at 180°C or until the top is brown and crusty. Leave to rest for 30 minutes before serving.