After I consider consolation meals, my thoughts usually turns to Greek Beef Stifado. I first tried this dish within the mountains of Cyprus on the house and restaurant of the great Deirdre Guthrie.
Made with chunks of meltingly tender beef in a richly spiced sauce, we devoured this scrumptious stew with loads of pink wine and talked and laughed late into the evening.
What’s Stifado?
Whereas it’s much less well-known than different Greek favourites like moussaka, kleftiko, tiropita or avgolemono soup, stifado is a conventional Greek stew in a wealthy pink wine sauce with loads of pearl onions.
It’s a sturdy dish with huge punchy flavours and is ALWAYS an enormous hit.
Don’t save stifado only for chilly winter days. It’s simply nearly as good in spring or autumn when the times are heat and sunny, however the nights are cool and crisp.
Components
Stifado is a versatile dish that may be made with completely different meats, equivalent to beef, lamb, rabbit, and even octopus! You’ll want the next fundamental components to make Stifado at house:
- Beef: Stewing beef or chuck steak is appropriate for this meal. You need meat that’s appropriate for lengthy, sluggish braising. Don’t be tempted by grocery store packages of ready-diced meat; get an even bigger piece and slice it into chunky cubes your self. It’s SO a lot tastier.
- Onions and Garlic: Historically, Stifado is made with small, entire pearl onions. They’re not at all times simple to seek out, so you should use shallots as a substitute, or the smallest onions you’ll find, lower into quarters.
- Purple Wine: A wealthy stew like Stifado is a good excuse to make use of up that bottle of barely too-sweet pink you may need sitting round. A sweeter wine actually enhances this dish.
- Herbs and Spices: This can be a splendidly aromatic dish with huge, flavoursome spices. Cinnamon and allspice are dominant right here, with bay leaves (recent if you may get them!) and oregano rounding issues out. PRO TIP: Utilizing entire cinnamon sticks and allspice berries will enhance the feel.
- Tomatoes: My pal Deirdre leaves them out which is widespread in Cyprus, however I like so as to add some in. You possibly can chop up just a few recent tomatoes or use a can of entire tomatoes.
- Vinegar: Good pink wine vinegar provides this dish a superb zing. Please don’t depart it out; it’s a part of the normal flavour and tastes scrumptious.
- Prunes and Dried Apricots: That is one thing Deirdre added to the recipe, and I feel it makes it much more scrumptious. Should you’re a stickler for custom, depart them out.
The whole ingredient checklist and detailed directions are within the recipe card on the backside of the web page.
Directions
The beauty of a stew like a stifado is that you are able to do all of the preparation after which depart the oven to do the work whilst you have a glass of wine and a chat along with your dinner visitors. In spite of everything, that’s rather more enjoyable than being caught within the kitchen.
- First, peel your onions by plunging them into boiling water for 1-2 minutes, then refreshing beneath chilly water. The skins ought to slip proper off. Subsequent, toss the meat in well-seasoned flour (a ziplock bag is by far the simplest method to do that). Warmth the oven to 180°C / 350°F / Gas4.
- Warmth the olive oil in a large, heavy-based, flameproof casserole dish. Brown the meat properly in batches, guaranteeing the oil is scorching. Take away the meat from the dish, then frivolously brown the onions and garlic.
- Add the wine, tomatoes, vinegar, herbs and spices, Worcester sauce, and beef inventory to the casserole, adopted by the prunes and dried apricots, if utilizing. Deliver to a simmer, add the meat items and any resting juices again to the casserole, and canopy tightly.
- Cook dinner for 2-3 hours till the meat is totally tender, checking midway if it wants a little bit water to cease it from drying out.
- Serve with good crusty bread or, as Deirdre at all times does, with broad beans, inexperienced beans, honey-glazed carrots, and baked potatoes. And loads of wine!
Often Requested Questions
Can I make stifado prematurely and reheat it?
Sure! Dishes like stifado really enhance on reheating the following day. Reheat to a mild simmer because the sauce can catch. You’ll must skinny it out with a little bit of water or wine.
Can I double or triple the recipe to feed a crowd?
Sure. If I’m cooking for a bigger group, I fry off the meat and onions in a frying pan, then tip all the pieces into my largest oven dish and canopy it with tinfoil/aluminium foil to cook dinner it.
What can the pearl onions get replaced with? I can’t discover any?
Shallots make an excellent substitute; in any other case, simply lower smallish onions into wedges.
Beef Stifado Recipe
Stifado (Greek Beef Stew)
This wealthy and luxurious recipe for Stifado comes from my good pal Deirdre Guthrie, proprietor of the Gardens of Irini in Bellapais, Cyprus. The key to this dish is the lengthy, sluggish cooking time, which makes the flavours terribly intense and the meat meltingly tender. It is excellent for an evening within the mountains of Bellapais, sitting till late beneath the celebs and listening to a few of Deirdre’s superb tales.
BROWN BEEF: Preheat oven to 180°C / 350°C / Gasoline 4. Put the flour in a bowl or ziplock bag, season properly with salt and pepper, then toss the meat within the seasoned flour. Warmth the oil over excessive warmth in a flameproof casserole dish or broad Dutch oven and brown the meat throughout, working in batches. Take away with a slotted spoon and put aside.
COMBINE INGREDIENTS: Over medium warmth, cook dinner the onions or shallots in the identical dish till golden. Add garlic, pink wine, tomatoes, vinegar, Worcester sauce, herbs and spices, inventory cubes, apricots and prunes. Deliver to the boil, stirring usually, then return the meat to the dish with any resting juices.
BRAISE: Cook dinner, tightly lined, for 2-3 hours till you may have actually tender chunks of beef- add water if crucial half method by way of cooking if the sauce is lowering too rapidly.
SERVE: Serve with garlicky broad beans, honey-roasted carrots, baked jacket potatoes, or recent, crusty bread.
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Serving: 1bowl | Energy: 908kcal | Carbohydrates: 51g | Protein: 51g | Fats: 47g | Saturated Fats: 18g | Polyunsaturated Fats: 4g | Monounsaturated Fats: 24g | Trans Fats: 3g | Ldl cholesterol: 170mg | Sodium: 864mg | Potassium: 1844mg | Fiber: 7g | Sugar: 28g | Vitamin A: 1111IU | Vitamin C: 18mg | Calcium: 164mg | Iron: 9mg
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