Stifado (Greek Beef Stew)

This was really nice. I served it with whole wheat pitas and a big bowl of Horiatiki salad and it made a wonderful dinner (and great leftovers the next day too)! I'm not used to including tomatoes in beef stew, but they were actually quite nice. There's not so much tomato in that it comes out like a chili. It's just enough to add an extra layer of flavour and it does go well with the feta.

I used standard pre-cubed stew meat, despite the author's dire warnings against this. They said that the origins of "stew meat" can be mysterious and it's better to buy a chuck-eye roast and trim and cube it yourself. This may be true, but we still had a bunch of cubed stew meat from my parents in the freezer. It's good beef and it needs eaten, so I didn't have any compunctions about using that instead of a roast. It was delicious and came out beautifully tender!

Stifado

Adapted from Cook's Country April/May 2020

Ingredients

• 1kg cubed stewing beef
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 200g cremini mushrooms, quartered
• 2 Tbsp. water
• 3 1/2 c. frozen pearl onions
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 2 Tbsp. tomato paste
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds, ground
• 1/8 tsp. allspice berries, ground
• 2 large tomatoes, cored and chopped
• 2 1/4 c. vegetable broth
• 3/4 c. dry white wine
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/4 c. fresh flat-leaf parsley
• crumbled feta

Directions

1. Sprinkle beef with salt and pepper and set aside.
2. Heat oil over medium heat.
3. Add mushrooms and water, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally until mushrooms have released their liquid (5-10 minutes).
4. Add onions and sugar and cook, uncovered, for another 10-12 minutes.
5. Add tomato paste, garlic, cumin, and allspice and cook for 1 minute.
6. Add broth, wine, cinnamon stick, bay leaves, and beef.
7. Increase heat to medium-high and bring to a simmer.
8. Transfer to oven and bake at 150°C (300°F), uncovered, for 1 hour.
9. Remove pot from oven and stir stew.
10. Return to oven and continue to cook, uncovered, for another 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
11. Remove from oven and stir in parsley.
12. Serve sprinkled with feta cheese.