Description
The perfect traditional Greek beef stew (stifado) recipe. Find out how to prepare beef stifado the traditional Greek way for that melt-in-the-mouth texture you’ve been looking for.
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 kg good-quality stewing beef, cut into portions (35 ounces)
- 1.5 kg pearl onions, peeled (60 ounces)
- 1/4 of a cup olive oil
- 3/4 of a cup red wine
- 3 tbsps red wine vinegar
- 1/3 of a cup cognac
- 2 ripe tomatoes (without skins) roughly chopped or tinned (400g) chopped tomatoes (14 oz)
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 bay leaf
- 3–4 allspice berries
- a pinch nutmeg
- salt and freshly ground pepper
- A bit of water
Instructions
- 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!
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 medium bowl
- Calories: 467kcal
- Sugar: 3.6g
- Sodium: 752.8mg
- Fat: 22g
- Saturated Fat: 5.9g
- Unsaturated Fat: 15g
- Trans Fat: 0.2g
- Carbohydrates: 8.7g
- Fiber: 1.9g
- Protein: 56.1g
- Cholesterol: 150mg
Keywords: stfado, greek beef stew, slow cooker, melt in the mouth stew, pearl onions