Stifado

Cooked a great, Greek-style meal last night. This was stifado (pronounced stiff-a-though) a lovely rich beef stew. It is really a winter dish but hey, our warm weather yesterday was not set to last long!

1 pound braising or stewing beef cut into 3cm cubes

1 pound small pickling size onions left whole

2 cloves garlic

1 400g tin of tomatoes

slug of olive oil

half teaspoon papkrika, (smoked is lovely)

half teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon dried oregano

half pint beef stock

half pint red wine

water

salt and black pepper to taste

Heat the oil in a pan and brown the meat and onions. Add the spices, garlic and oregano and fry for another minute. Add the wine and bubble fiercely to remove the alcohol. Now add the canned tomatoes with the stock and bring to the boil, adding enough water to cover the meat entirely. Simmer for 2-3 hours until the meat is tender and the sauce is thick.

Serve in the Greek style with some boiled, lemony potatoes and a Greek salad or as I did with mashed potatoes, carrots and purple sprouting broccoli.

The smells wafting through the house coupled with a fairly warm day were enough to remind me of hotter climes!

Photo courtesy of falkenbjerg.dk