Stavros' Giouvetsi

Giouvetsi: Lovely Greek Dish

   Hi all, before writing about the recipe I would like to introduce myself, as long as this is my first post in this blog. My name is Stavros, I am from Greece (we currently live in Denmark), and I am lucky enough to be Alexandra's husband. I have never cooked more than simple dishes, and with Alexandra near, my cooking skills are not needed, as long as she is very good in the kitchen and the expectations are too high.

   About food, as long as I am from Greece, I love soups with egg-lemon sauce, loads of olive oil in food. I really enjoy some of the simple Greek dishes, not because they are something really special, but mainly because they are the dishes of my childhood and I grow with them. Moreover, unlike most Greeks, I love spicy food and strong flavors. As long as my cooking skills are very low and I usually enter the kitchen just to "raid" the fridge, we agreed with Alexandra to let me one day per week to cook a dish I like with minimal guidance.

   Giouvetsi is a traditional Greek dish, that I really enjoy. Since I went to college, I was living away my parents, thus I was eating the food that the (free) restaurant in the university had. I was visiting my parents 2-3 times a year, and an always hard question was which dishes I had missed most so I have have them during my stay in Athens...

...and Giouvetsi was one of them!!!

  

The following recipe is similar with the one that Alexandra is usually cooking, but I added a couple of fresh vegetables, red wine, and lot of spices, thus the result had stronger flavors and a nice darker color :)

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

• 1 kg veal or beef meat
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 big onion (or shallot) 
• 2-3 garlic cloves
• vegetables
• 1 bell pepper
• 1 carrot
• 1 zucchini
• 2 celery sticks
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 1 kg tomatoes
• spices
• 2-3 bay leaves
• 1/2 tbsp oregano
• 1/2 tbsp cumin
• 1 tbsp paprika
• 1/2 tbsp sugar
• salt and pepper
• 500 gr orzo pasta
• 3-4 tbsp olive oil for the orzo pasta
• (optionally) grated cheese, preferably parmesan (or kefalotiri if you are in Greece :P)

Step One

In this step we'll prepare all our ingedients

    First of all, we'll wash and clean our meat from  any exceed fat and cut it into portion sizes. Personally, we prefer the meat cut into bite pieces, though you can also cut it in portion sizes, if you prefer to have a single piece of meat on each plate. Chop the vegetables into very small pieces, so you will not need to remove them after you create the basic sauce. Finally, blend the tomatoes to create a nice tomato puree. To give to the tomato puree a nice dark red color, you can heat it in a pan and let it boil for a minute.

Step Two

In this step we'll make our sauce

     Initially, warm the olive oil in a deep cooking pot on medium heat. When the oil is hot enough, add onion, garlic cloves and vegetables and let them cook for a while. Afterwards, add the meat and let it cook for 8-10 minutes, until it browns from all sides. (In case you haven't heat the tomato puree yet, the best timing is to do it now) Afterwards, pour the wine in and wait for the alcohol to evaporate. Add the tomato puree, and the spices. Reduce heat to very low, put the lid on the pot and let the food to simmer for an hour or until the meat becomes tender. Towards the end of the cooking time, taste the sauce  and   season with more salt and pepper, if needed.

Step Three

In the last step, we'll put the dish together

     Warm the olive oil in a open, wide pot, put the orzo pasta in and stir around with a spoon to get it coated in oil. Personally, we also like to add a little water on the orzo pasta and let it soften during the cooking time of the meat in Step Two. When the meat is ready, remove it from the fire and poor the meat on top of the orzo pasta. Remove the orzo pasta and the big pieces of vegetables, if any, and pour the sauce over the food. Make sure the orzo gets fully covered. If not, add warm water to cover as much as 2 cm above the orzo.Bake in a preheated oven at 170°C for 50 min. Ten minutes before it's done, you can sprinkle the grated cheese on top of the food. Originally the grated cheese is added after the food is plated, so it will not fully melt until it's served, however parmesan cheese is much softer than kefalotiri, thus it will most likely melt anyway.

ENJOY and see you next week :)

You can comment for food requests you would like me to try!