Beef Stifado

I have had the pleasure of eating this in a Greek restaurant. I had never made it before but fancied making something new. So..... I found a few recipes and molded them into this concoction. It worked really well, I am very pleased with it. I have updated it a few times now, and it's pretty bulletproof.

I forgot to take a picture, so I stole this one, it gives you the general idea...

Ingredients (Serves 4)
Cooking time 2-3 Hrs total.

1kg of lean beef cubed
500 grams of shallots or baby onions
2 large Onions sliced thinly
2 big tomatoes
4 to 6 Garlic Cloves
Cloves 3-4
vegetable stock cube
Wine glass of extra virgin olive oil
Wine glass of Red Wine
2 tbsp of wine vinegar
2 tbsp of tomato puree/paste
1 cinnamon stick
Some rosemary if you have some
1/2 tsp of ground nutmeg
2 bay leaves
Black pepper
Salt

1. Heat a little oil, and put the meat in a large frying pan, and sear the meat. Then add the olive oil, onions and garlic leave until onions start to go soft (about 5 minutes)

2. Add the glass of red wine and 2 tablespoons of wine vinegar, cover, and leave for 5 minutes

3. 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.

4. Add your chopped tomatoes and continue stirring for 5 minutes,

5. Transfer to a casserole dish, if it looks dry add a little water (or wine if you are hardcore), just enough to cover the meat, be careful not to drown the sauce, then cook for at least one hour in the oven on 160C, keeping checking - you don't want it to dry out and add water (wine you fool) if needed - you are aiming for a thick rich sauce texture.

6. Peel, then fry the shallots/baby onions 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 cook for a further 1 hour until the meat is tender.

Serve with rice or roast potatoes, or both.... and a bit of salad.

Enjoy