The Hairy Bikers' beef stifado recipe
A traditional Greek meat stew, stifado can be made with pork or rabbit as well as beef. It always contains loads of little onions, cooked whole, and can be served with some short macaroni-style pasta if you fancy. The Hairy Bikers' beef stifado recipe adds a fresh spin on a classic.
Ingredients
For the beef stifado- 2 tbsp cornflour
- 1 kg chuck steak, cut into large chunks (at least 8cm/3inches)
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 500 g pickling onions, peeled and left whole
- 1 tbsp tomato purée
- 4 ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped OR
- 1 x 400g/14oz can chopped tomatoes
- 1 tsp honey
- 1 tbsp fresh oregano or parsley leaves (optional), to serve
- 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 3 bay leaves
- 1 x 3cm/1inch cinnamon stick
- 1 tsp allspice berries
- 0.5 tsp coriander seeds
- 4 cloves
- 1 strip of thinly pared orange peel
- 300 ml red wine
Details
- Cuisine: Greek
- Recipe Type: Stew
- Difficulty: Easy
- Preparation Time: 30 mins
- Cooking Time: 120 mins
- Serves: 6
Step-by-step
- Put the beef in a glass, ceramic or plastic bowl – metal can react with the marinade – and season with salt and pepper. Add all the marinade ingredients, then cover and marinate for several hours or overnight.
- When you’re ready to start cooking, heat the olive oil in a large flameproof casserole dish. Add the onions and cook them over a medium heat, shaking regularly, until they have taken on some colour on all sides. Remove them from the casserole.
- Strain the beef, reserving the marinade, and pat it dry. Add a splash more olive oil to the casserole if necessary and sear the beef until well browned. You may have to do this in a couple of batches.
- Return the meat and the onions to the pan.
- Add the reserved marinade to the casserole. Mix the tomato purée with a little water, and add this to the casserole, together with the tomatoes and honey. Season with sea salt and fresh ground black pepper.
- Bring to the boil, then turn down the heat to a low simmer.
- Cover the casserole with a lid and cook the stifado for 1–1½ hours until the meat and onions are tender.
- Stir at intervals, turning over the meat each time. Towards the end of cooking, mix the cornflour with 2tbsp cold water, stir into the stew and allow it to bubble for a few minutes to thicken the sauce.
- To serve, sprinkle with fresh oregano or parsley leaves if you like.
Recipe extracted from The Hairy Bikers’ Meat Feast by Si King & Dave Myers, published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson. See the Hairy Bikers cooking live at the BBC Good Food Show Summer, NEC Birmingham, 16th-19th June. Tickets available now via www.bbcgoodfoodshowsummer.com
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