Greek Stifado

 

This tasty greek stew can be made with beef, lamb, rabbit, or particularly delicious - goat. We first had this in the beautiful sun soaked Agni Bay in Corfu, but it is equally welcome in sulky, drippy UK!

This is Eleni’s recipe from her Taverna, within stepping distance of the Ionian.

Ingredients

1 kg lean cubed beef (or whatever red meat you want to try)

500gm small shallot onions

1 large onion chopped

1 large tomato chopped (or tin of)

2 tblsp tomato puree

1/2 a nutmeg crushed or grated

1 cinnamon stick (or 1 teasp ground)

4 garlic cloves crushed or chopped

1 beef stock cube

1 teasp chopped fresh rosemary

1 small wine glass of good olive oil

1 glass red or white wine

2 tblsp wine vinegar

Freshly ground black pepper

Set the shallots to one side as you add them later.

You need a casserole dish that you can use on the hob.

Brown the meat and chopped onion in the olive oil.

Add all the other ingredients and bring to the boil. Add a wine glass of water, cover, and pop it into the oven set at 160 C for 1 hour.

While it’s cooking, peel the shallots and fry them whole in a splash of olive oil until they are brown.

Tip - to make them easier to peel, soak them in boiling water for about 5 minutes.

After the stew has been cooking for 1 hour, put in the little onions and back into the oven for a further hour or until the meat is tender.