Greek Stifado Recipe | Abel & Cole

Ingredients

400g diced stewing steak
3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
3 fresh bay leaves
8 whole cloves
1 cinnamon stick, broken
1 tbsp freshly chopped oregano leaves, plus extra to serve
150ml red wine
4 tbsp red wine vinegar
Freshly ground pepper
½ mug plain white flour
Sea salt
A few glosses of olive oil
1 small swede or ½ larger swede
1 parsnips
2 carrots
2 onions
400g tinned tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato purée
Greek yogurt, walnuts and feta, to serve

Prep: 20 mins + marinating* | Cook: 3 hrs

Buy the ingredients to start making your own

Add Ingredients To Basket

Method

1. Unwrap the meat, drain it and pop it into a large lidded tub along with the sliced garlic, fresh bay, whole cloves, a broken cinnamon stick, oregano, red wine and vinegar and a good pinch of freshly ground pepper.

2. Marinate overnight*. If there’s no time, don’t fret. Get a fork and pierce the meat all over whilst in the marinade. Then massage everything together for a couple of mins and that’ll do a quick fix – not as good but it gets you there faster.

3. Once the meat’s soaked in the marinade, set a sieve over a pan or bowl. Drain the meat from the marinade and keep the bowl of marinade later.

4. Dust the meat with a good coating of flour and season with salt and pepper. Get a large frying pan hot and add a gloss of oil. Brown the meat in the hot oil till it gets a golden crust. Spoon the meat into a large lidded pot.

5. Add the marinade to the frying pan and use it to help unstick and scrape off all the cooked bits stuck to the pan. Tip it all into the pot with the meat. Pour in enough water to cover the beef. Bring to a gentle simmer.

6. Peel and finely dice the roots and onions (this works well with any root veg, so feel free to experiment with different combinations), aim for roughly 1cm cubes. Give the frying pan a wash. Put it back on the heat. Add a fresh gloss of oil and sizzle the veg till it's lightly browned.

7. Add the tinned tomatoes and tomato purée to veg. Cook for a couple of mins to reduce down a bit. Then scrape all the veg into the pot with the beef. Pour in a little more water, if need, to keep everything just covered.

8. Pop a lid on. Simmer for 2½ hours, stirring every 30 mins and tasting as you go, topping up with water or wine as needed.

9. This is wonderful served with a dollop of Greek yogurt, crumbles of feta, fresh oregano leaves and chopped walnuts.