Moussaka

Wash the aubergines, remove the green caps and slice in half lengthwise. Cut six deep gashes in the flesh of each half without piercing the skin.

Salt the gashes and leave about half an hour to draw out water and bitterness.

For the tomato sauce, chop one ounce each of celery, carrot and onion, and chop two slices of ham.

Simmer the ham in boiling water 10 minutes.

Melt a tablespoon of butter with two tablespoons of oil in a frying pan over medium heat, add the vegetables and the boiled ham and cook 10 minutes, stirring frequently, without browning.

Blend in three tablespoons of flour and cook three minutes more, then take off the heat and add the beef stock.

Back on the heat, add the chopped tomatoes, salt, sugar, unpeeled garlic cloves, bay leaf, parsley sprigs, dried thyme and tomato paste.

Simmer one and a half to two hours.

Wash the salt off the aubergine under cold water, squeeze out the juice and dry.

Rub the aubergine halves all over with olive oil.

Place skin side down with half an inch of water in the pan and bake in the upper part of a preheated oven about half an hour until just tender.

Force the tomato sauce through a sieve, taste, season with salt and pepper and keep at a simmer until needed.

Finely chop the onions and cook in a frying pan on low with a dessert spoon of olive oil for 15 minutes.

Wash half a pound of mushrooms, chop them finely, then twist them in a corner of a clean cloth to extract the juice.

Pass the mushroom juice through the sieve into the tomato sauce, mix in and bring back to a simmer.

Saute the mushrooms and two tablespoons of chopped spring onions in olive oil over medium-low heat 5 minutes, then add them and the cooked onions to a mixing bowl.

Scoop the flesh from the tender aubergine leaving the skins intact. Chop half the flesh into the mixing bowl; dice or slice the other half.

Fry the second half of the aubergine in olive oil about five minutes until lightly browned.

Oil a three pint cylindrical mold and line it with the aubergine skins, purple side against the mold, laid lengthwise with a pointed end at the centre of the bottom.

Reset the oven to 375.

Brown minced lamb in a frying pan in olive oil over medium heat, seasoning with pepper.

Add the lamb to the mixing bowl with a teaspoon of salt, half a teaspoon each of thyme, pepper and rosemary, and one clove of crushed garlic.

For the substitute brown sauce, simmer beef bouillon stock with chopped carrot and onion, 120 millilitres of wine, parsley sprigs, half a bay leaf, thyme and a tablespoon of tomato paste for about half an hour, then pass it through a sieve.

Add the brown sauce, two tablespoons of tomato paste and three eggs to the mixing bowl and mix with a wooden spoon; season with pepper and salt.

Put an inch of the mixture into the bottom of the lined mold, add a layer of the sauteed aubergine, continue in layers and end with a layer of the lamb mixture.

Fold the dangling ends of the aubergine skin up over the surface.

Cover with tin foil and a lid and bake in the bottom part of the oven for an hour and a half.

Wait 10 minutes, unmold, and surround the serving dish with a quarter pint of the tomato sauce.