Lockdown Recipe - Stifado - Week 4

As with everyone in lockdown, mood levels vary from day to day.

I am able to measure mine by bra wearing, there are bra-days and no-bra-days. A no-bra-day is not so good, clothes have probably not been put on, hair not washed, sensible food surpassed for chocolate and way too much coffee. Exercise has almost definitely not been taken. No-bra-days are especially bad if they consist of actually leaving the house ‘sans brassiere’, much like today, which involved queuing at the local supermarket to buy wine with the sole purpose of returning home to drink it.

This is throwing in the towel (or bra) not as it once was seen, as a caution to the wind type thing,  but more as a ‘fuck it I cannot go on with out alcohol’ type way. My online health guru, Kris Carr, would call this: ‘numbing’ the senses with wine rather than ‘self care’ chillin’ with a nice glass and something to eat.

I have also decided to make the hearty flavoursome dish: Beef Stifado. I loosely follow Tonia Buxton’s (The Greek Kitchen) recipe. Tonia’s recipes are really authentic and I also have a slight girl crush, check out: ‘Eat Greek For A Week’, yup, okay, not a problem.

Tonia Buxton - all woman

Stifado, according to Tonia, means ‘stuffed’ as in ‘stuffed full of flavour’.

A ladleful of the unctuous broth, full with Greek flavours of fennel, bay and cinnamon is enough to transport me to a tiny harbour taverna, a cold bright sunny afternoon, the blue Aegean lapping at the shore with brightly painted fishing boats bobbing on its surface. Ah...

For a properly authentic recipe, search up Tonia Buxton’s - Beef Stifado.

Here is mine:

W1MUM LOCKDOWN STIFADO

Ingredients
400g shin beef diced
2 red onions chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic crushed
3 tbsp red wine vinegar
2 bay leaves
1 piece of cinnamon bark
1 tsp cloves
1.5 tsp fennel seeds
2 x 400g cans chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato paste
Salt and pepper

Method
I use a heavy based cast iron casserole dish, it’s not Le Creuset, but it works perfectly well. Put on hob and turn up high. Brown the meat in olive oil and add the onions, gently cook until caramelised.

Brown the beef with onions in olive oil

Add the crushed garlic, I like to use a microplane grater.

Add crushed 2 cloves crushed garlic

Followed by the red wine vinegar.

Add 3 tbsps red wine vinegar

Stir and add the cans of chopped tomatoes, plus one can of water. Rinse the empty cans and recycle!

Add I tsp cloves

Add cloves, bay leaves, cinnamon bark, fennel seeds, tommy paste and season with salt and pepper.

Add 1 tsp fennel seeds, bay leaves and cinnamon bark

Add 1 tbsp tomato paste

Turn down heat and simmer with a tightly fitting lid for at least 1 hour this is not a dish to rush.

Simmer for at least 1 hour with the lid on.

It is the kind of dish you can happily leave bubbling away in the kitchen, while you have your lockdown-text-off with friends, and it won’t spoil if you drink an extra glass of wine before you bring it to the table.  

Serve with a green salad and toasted pitta bread or mashed potatoes and steamed kale... whatever you fancy really.

Red wine and ouzo optional.

Cheers!

Stay safe. Stay home.
xxx