Stifado Food

BEEF STIFADO

Steps:

• Place the beef in a large non-reactive bowl. Add the marinade ingredients, peeling and finely slicing the garlic first, then cover and refrigerate for at least 6 hours, or preferably overnight.
• Peel the baby onions. If using fresh, peel and roughly chop the tomatoes.
• Heat the oil over medium heat in a large saucepan and sauté the onions for 5 minutes or until softened. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.
• Sauté the beef, reserving the marinade, for about 8 to 10 minutes, or until browned on all sides.
• Return the onions to the saucepan, add the marinade, tomatoes and tomato purée and enough water to just cover the stew.
• Season generously with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Bring to the boil then simmer for 1½ to 2 hours, or until the beef is tender and the sauce has thickened.
• Serve with pasta and grated hard cheese, such as kefalotiri, pecorino or Parmesan.

BEEF STIFADO

Steps:

• Heat half of the butter and half of the first tablespoon of olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Brown half of the beef cubes on all sides, and place into a large saucepan. Repeat with the remaining butter, olive oil, and beef. Stir the onions and garlic into the oil remaining in the skillet, and reduce heat to medium; cook and stir until the onion has softened and turned translucent, about 5 minutes. Pour in the red wine, and bring to a simmer, then scrape the onions into the saucepan with the beef.
• Season the beef with salt, pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar, and orange zest. Pour in the diced tomatoes and water. Cover, and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat; then reduce heat to medium-low, and continue simmering 1 hour.
• Meanwhile, heat the remaining tablespoon of olive oil in the skillet over medium heat. Stir in the pearl onions, and cook until they are well browned, stirring frequently, about 20 minutes. After the beef has simmered for an hour, add the pearl onions, recover, and continue simmering 20 minutes.
• Remove the lid, and simmer, uncovered until the stew has reduced and slightly thickened, about 10 minutes. Remove the orange zest before serving.

BEEF STIFADO RECIPE (GREEK BEEF STEW)

Steps:

• To prepare this delicious Greek beef stifado recipe, heat the oil in a saucepan, add the meat (in batches) and sauté, until browned on all sides. Do not add all the meat in the sauce pan, rather sauté in batches, so that the temperature of the oil remains high and the meat is sealed. When done, remove with a slotted spoon, place on a platter, cover and set aside.
• Peel and carve the baby shallot onions crosswise, add in the same oil used to browned the meat, turn down to medium heat and sauté until the onions have softened, but not browned (about 10 minutes).
• Pour in the cognac, the wine and red wine vinegar, cover and let it simmer for 3 minutes.
• Pour the meat along with its juices to the saucepan, add the tomato paste and sauté. Add the chopped tomatoes, bay leaf, allspice berries, nutmeg and a bit of water until the meat is covered. Bring to a boil, turn the heat down and simmer the beef stifado with a lid on for 1 1/2 hours or until the beef is tender and the sauce has thickened. While the beef stifado is simmering, check if it needs some water; you don't want it to dry out. If it does, pour in half a cup of boiled water and stir. Towards the end of cooking time season well with salt and pepper to taste.
• Serve beef stifado with pasta and grated cheese, or boiled new potatoes. Enjoy!

MUSHROOM STIFADO

Steps:

• Soak the dried porcini in warm water for 1 hr. Heat half the oil in a large, wide-bottomed pan. Add the whole onions and a pinch of sea salt, and cook over a low heat until caramelised, about 20 mins, stirring occasionally. Remove the onions and set aside.
• Meanwhile, cut the fresh mushrooms into halves and quarters, to give rough 4cm pieces. Once the onions have been removed from the pan, add the remaining oil and cook the fresh mushrooms and garlic over a medium heat for 10 mins until browned, stirring frequently. Return the onions to the pan, pour in the wine and cook for 5-10 mins until reduced by half.
• Strain the porcini, reserving 200ml of the soaking liquid. Tip the porcini and reserved liquid into the pan with the tomato purée, vinegar, bay leaves, allspice, cinnamon, cloves, peppercorns and tomatoes.
• Cook, uncovered, over a medium-low heat for about 1 hr, stirring occasionally, until the liquid thickens. Add the olives and honey, and season to taste. Sprinkle with the parsley and cheese and serve with Horseradish mash (see 'Goes well with').

RABBIT STIFADO

Steps:

• Rinse the rabbit pieces and place them in a mixing bowl together with the bay leaves and vinegar; mix well and leave to marinate for at least 2 hours, or overnight; remove the rabbit from the marinade and pat dry with kitchen paper.
• Heat half of the olive oil in a large saucepan until hot, add the rabbit and fry the pieces until quite brown on all sides; add the tomato paste, bay leaves (left over from the marinade), sugar, garlic, spices, wine and the hot water.
• Season with salt and pepper.
• Bring to the boil mixing well then reduce the heat, cover and simmer for about 1 hour.
• Meanwhile, heat the remaining olive oil in a frying pan; add the onions and sauté gently for 15 minutes stirring occasionally, until golden all over; after the rabbit has been cooking for 1 hour, add the onions and oil from the frying pan to the saucepan; combine, then re-cover and simmer for a further 15 minutes; fish out the cinnamon stick, allspice berries and rosemary sprig.
• Note: This can be served with pasta, noodles, rice or oven-roasted potatoes, but my personal favourite is homemade french-fries, which taste delicious dunked in the spicy sauce.

CROCK POT STIFADO

Steps:

• Heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat and brown beef-- in batches if necessary, adding more oil if needed.
• Transfer beef to crock pot with a slotted spoon.
• Reduce heat to medium and add onions to skillet, cooking until soft; add garlic, cinnamon and allspice and cook for 1 minute.
• Add vinegar, tomato sauce, sugar and bay leaf and stir well to combine.
• Pour mixture over meat.
• Cover and cook on Low for 8 to 10 hours or on High for 4 to 5 hours, until beef is tender.
• Add feta cheese, cover again, and cook on High for 10 minutes.
• Discard bay leaf and serve over hot buttered pasta or mashed potatoes.

BEEF STIFADO

Steps:

• Season the beef with salt and pepper.
• Place butter in the bottom of a large crockpot.
• Add the meat and turn to coat with butter.
• Arrange the onions over the meat.
• Mix the tomato paste through the garlic, and pour over the meat and onions, but do not stir.
• Add the bay leaf through the raisins; do not stir.
• Simmer on low 8-10 hours.
• At serving time, remove the bay leaf, cinnamon stick and cloves and stir the stifado gently to blend.

BEEF STIFADO (GREEK BEEF & ONION STEW)

Steps:

• In a pot, heat the oil over medium heat and add the peeled onions.
• Sauté for 5-10 minutes or until golden and soft.
• Remove the onions and set aside.
• Brown the beef in two batches in the pot.
• Do not add all the beef at once into the pot otherwise it will create too much steam and it will not brown properly.
• Do this in 2-3 batches.
• ​Place all of the browned beef back into the pot.
• Add all of the ingredients except the onions.
• Bring to a boil. Reduce to simmer.​
• Simmer for 1 hour 15 minutes or until the sauce has thickened and the beef is tender.
• Check the seasoning and add some more salt if needed.​
• Add the onions to the pot and shake it a bit so that they can settle in the stew.
• Stirring may cause them to fall apart.
• Simmer for 30 minutes more.​
• Serve with rice, hearty bread or mashed potatoes.​
• Enjoy!

BEEF STIFADO

Steps:

• put meat in a frying pan and sear the meat then add the olive oil, onions and garlic leave until onions start to go soft (about 5 minutes)
• Then add the glass of red wine and 2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar, cover and leave for 5 minutes
• then add your cinnamon, stock cube, cloves, nutmeg, bay leaves, rosemary, tomato puree and salt and pepper to taste. keep stirring to let all your ingredients mix together.
• then finally add your chopped tomatoes and continue stirring for 5 minutes,
• then transfer to a clay pot or casserole dish and add about 1/4 - 1/2 litre of water, be careful not to drown the sauce, then cook for at least one hour in the oven on a moderate heat, keeping checking you dont want it to dry out and add water if needed you are aiming for a thick rich sauce texture,
• whilst cooking place your 500 grams of shallots into hot water to soften the skin and peel, then fry these in a little olive oil, be careful not to burn them, just aim to soften them and add a little colour, add these to Stifado after one hour of cooking in the oven and then add them to the pot and cook for a further 1 hour until the meat is tender.

STIFADO - TRADITIONAL BEEF STEW WITH SHALLOTS

Steps:

• Add a generous splash of olive oil in a cooking pot and heat over high heat.
• Brown the beef chunks on all sides. Do this by adding the meat in the pot in batches. So the temperature of the oil won't drop, and the meat sill sear properly. After you're done with the first batch, remove the meat from the pot and then add the next batch. Once all the meat is seared and browned all over, add it all back in the pot.
• Pour in 2-3 cups of semi-sweet red wine, and 2-3 cups of water in the pot. The amount of both liquids should be just enough to cover the meat. So whether you're using a wider or more narrow cooking pot you should adjust the amount to 2 or 3 cups (each) accordingly.
• Add the allspice, cloves, cinnamon stick, and bay leaves. Season with kosher salt and ground pepper.
• Reduce heat to low and cover the pot with its lid. Slow cook for approximately 2 hours.
• Meanwhile, cut off the tops and bottoms of the shallots and remove their skins. Place in a bowl and cover with cold water. Let them soak for about 30 minutes and then drain in a strainer. This is done to remove some of their sharp acidity.
• After the meat has slowly cooked for 2 hours, prick with a knife to make sure it's tender enough. Otherwise, cook a bit more.
• Add a splash of olive oil in a skillet or frying pan, and heat over medium-high heat. Toss in the shallots and cook until deep golden all over. Stir in 2 loaded tablespoons of tomato paste, and cook for 2 minutes more, while stirring constantly using a wooden spoon. Pour a good splash of water in the pan to help scrape off the paste from the pan and then add everything in the pot with the meat.
• Shake the pot for the shallots to spread evenly, and once you make sure there is enough liquid in the pot to almost cover everything, slow cook (covered) for another 45-50 minutes.
• Serve with freshly ground pepper on top!

GREEK RABBIT STEW. KOUNELI STIFADO

Steps:

• Cut up the rabbits and cut into serving pieces. Be sure to include little bits, like the belly flaps, the front legs, the kidneys and such; they become yummy surprises in the finished stew. Salt the rabbit pieces well and set aside for 30 minutes.
• Heat 1/4 cup olive oil in a frying pan and brown the rabbit well. As each piece browns, move it to a brazier or Dutch oven or other heavy, lidded pot. When the rabbit is browned, sauté the onions for 4 to 5 minutes over medium-high heat, until they begin to brown. Add the garlic and sauté for another minute. Sprinkle with salt. Do not let the garlic burn.
• Turn the contents of the frying pan into the brazier or a Dutch oven, then arrange the bay leaves, oregano, allspice berries and cinnamon stick over them.
• In the pan you browned the rabbit and the onions, add the wine, sweet wine, vinegar, stock, tomato paste and grated tomatoes - cut tomatoes in half and run them through your coarsest grater to leave the skins out of your pot. Cook this down over high heat for 3 to 4 minutes, then pour over everything in the pot.
• Cover the pot and bring to a simmer. Cook slowly for 1 hour, then check. It may need up to another hour. You want the rabbit to be just about falling off the bone. You can pull the rabbit meat off the bone, as I do, or just let your guests do that. Grind some black pepper and drizzle some really good olive oil over everything right when you serve.

ONE-POT BEEF STIFADO

Steps:

• Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Heat 2 tbsp oil in a flameproof casserole over a medium-high heat and brown the beef all over, removing it to a plate with a slotted spoon as you go (you may need to do this in batches). Drizzle the rest of the oil into the pan. Peel the onions (but leave whole) and add to the pan, then scatter over the sugar. Sizzle for 5 mins, stirring now and then until starting to brown. Add the garlic, bay, cinnamon stick, allspice, cloves and oregano, and cook for 1 min more. Stir in the tomato purée and cook for another minute, then tip in the beef along with any resting juices. Stir to coat in the spiced onion mixture.
• Add the red wine vinegar and chopped tomatoes. Rinse the cans out with the wine and pour it in, then add a third of a can of water. Season with salt and stir well. Bring to a simmer, stir again, then cover with the lid and transfer to the oven for 1 hr.
• Remove from the oven and stir again. If the sauce looks very thick, add a splash more water. Cover again and return to the oven for another hour, or until the meat is fork-tender - the timing will depend on the cut you've used. Serve hot. To get ahead, leave to cool completely, then transfer to an airtight container and chill for up to three days or freeze for up to three months. Defrost completely in the fridge overnight, then reheat in a pan over a low heat with a splash more water to loosen, if needed.

BEEF STIFADO

Steps:

• Place the beef in a non-metallic bowl with all the marinade ingredients. Cover and leave overnight in the fridge.
• Remove the meat from the bowl, reserving the marinade for later. In a heavy based non-stick pan, brown the beef for 2-4 minutes (in batches if necessary), over a high heat.
• Add the onion, celery, carrot and shallots to the pan and stir-fry for a further 1-2 minutes.
• Add the reserved marinade and tomatoes. Season well, cover and cook over a low heat for 2 hours, or until the sauce has thickened and the beef is very tender. Remove from the heat and discard the bay leaves.
• Serve garnished with the parsley.