I don’t just eat stew for comfort in the depths of winter, I eat it for pleasure, and the best stew imaginable in my opinion is stifado. It boasts big meaty flavours, a sweet and subtly spiced sauce, and almost best of all… meltingly soft shallots or baby onions which have absorbed all the flavours. Delicious!
Stifado is a traditional Greek stew which, if you’re being pedantic, should be made with hare. I don’t have the heart to serve hare to Dave, and neither do I have a source for it, so I use beef which is perfectly lovely in its own right.
Don’t be tempted to make this more ‘gourmet’ by substituting fresh oregano for the dried; they’re vastly different beasts. Dried oregano has a much more pungent and powerful flavour and stands up better to long-cooking in a stew. Plus, it’s the authentic ingredient, so don’t fiddle with it!
I usually serve the stifado with some roasted-garlic mashed potatoes, but as I had some little Charlotte potatoes in the fridge I decided to use those up instead. Boiled is too boring–unless we’re talking Jersey Royals–so I chopped them up and roasted them with some rosemary and garlic. Sure, they didn’t soak up the sauce like mash would have done, but their crunch went really well with the velvety stew. You could, of course, go for a bit of Mediterranean fusion and serve the stifado over soft polenta….
Delicious!
Beef Stifado
Serves 4
WW (UK) points: 4 per serving
If you’re not dieting and you prefer a thicker gravy then you can toss the beef cubes with seasoned flour before frying. Feel free to use as much olive oil as you need to brown the beef–I’ve been pretty stingy to keep the fat levels down. Also, slosh in half a bottle of wine or more and drink the rest!
1 teaspoon olive oil
500g beef stewing steak, cut into 2″ chunks
1 large onion, chopped roughly
6 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
400g tin of peeled, chopped tomatoes
500ml beef stock
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
125ml dry red wine
2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 bay leaves
1 cinnamon stick
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
500g pack shallots, peeled and root broken off
salt and freshly ground pepper
Heat the oil in a large casserole dish–I use a huge Le Creuset cocotte–over medium-high heat and brown the beef in small batches, ensuring that each side of the cubes get properly browned and crusty. By the time you’re done, there should be a heavy brown patina on the base of the pan.
Turn the heat to low and saute the chopped onion, stirring well to dislodge some of the burnt on bits. When onion is translucent add the garlic and oregano and cook for a couple of minutes until fragrant.
Return the beef to the dish, pour in the red wine and stir furiously to deglaze the bottom of the pan. Add the rest of the ingredients, except the shallots.
Bring up to the boil and put the lid on. Now, you can opt to cook the stifado on the stove using the lowest flame possible or in the oven at 170C (150C in a fan oven.) Either way, it’ll take at least three hours. Give it a stir from time to time.
Once the time is up, toss in the peeled shallots and cook for a further hour. If the sauce is too thin for your liking then leave the casserole partially uncovered for the last half an hour. Taste and adjust seasoning. I often add some extra oregano at the end to make sure that each bite of stew has both the heady top-notes and the mellow flavour of long-cooked oregano.
Serve with rosemary roast potatoes or mashed potatoes. Roasted garlic mash is a particularly good partner for the stifado.
Rosemary roast potatoes
Serves 2
WW (UK) points: 5 per portion
As above, if you’re not dieting you can up the oil. You won’t have to stir the potatoes more than once while they’re roasting.
600g small new potatoes (I used Charlotte potatoes)
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary
salt
Preheat the oven to 220C or 200C if you have a fan oven.
Put the oil into a shallow roasting tray and stick it in the oven to heat up while you get on with the potatoes.
Chop the potatoes in half length-wise then across into chunks about 1-2cm wide.
When you’re done chopping take the hot tin out of the oven and carefully put the potatoes into it. This is easier–and safer–if your potatoes are in a bowl and you pour them on away from you. Toss the potatoes about with a spoon to coat in oil then sprinkle over the chopped rosemary and garlic.
Roast for 30-40 minutes, stirring every 10 mins, depending on the chunk size until the potatoes are crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. Season with salt before serving.
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I can’t wait to try this out.
Just found your blog and made the stifado for a greek night with friends. Absolutely love it. Varied your wine quantity a bit as you suggested and everyone agreed it is now the only way to cook beef. Thanks very much.
I absolutely love your stifado recipe I have made it a good few times now and it is wonderful. We tried it in Greece last year and I found that your recipe gives us the perfect taste it’s great.
Great stifado recipe ! would like to make it again for my large family when they visit and would also like to serve another ‘greek’ casserole type dish ?? any suggestions. Thanks
It was 14 years ago I had my very first Stifado. Nineteen years old I was working in Crete one summer in between studies. A bit late for my first Stifado considering I’ve had greek neighbours since I was three. They are from nothern Greece though, I guess the cuisine varies a bit. The chef Julia, had her roots in Crete but, was born and raised in London. So tomorrow, when I make my first very own Stifado and the first one I’ve had in 14 years, I will be thinking of a thick british accent and hopefully that it was just as good as I remembered.
/Magnus from Sweden
wow wow wow wow been meaning to try thgis recipe for many months but decided to do it for when mother in law was down… Was very unsure to whether she wud enjoy it as the smells coming from oven all afternoon where very strong but she was raving about it!! Most beautiful stew type meal i have ever made thank you
Hi Tony! Gosh, that’s brave! Trying a new recipe out on your mother-in-law! I’m really glad that it turned out so well for you
I am going to try this out on some friends the week end, thought about using a slow cooker, would this be ok?
Hi Dunk! Yes, a slow-cooker should be fine. Just add the beef after it has been browned and the onions etc softened. No idea of the cooking time, I’m afraid. I never got the hang of the slow cooker.
Ok i will use the slow cooker, let you know how i get on. Thnks for help and quick response.
Hi,
I did this last night for friends. I cooked it in my slow cooker for 3 hours prev night and then for another 2 ish next day before serving, meat fell apart it was delicious.
I put more wine in.
If you follow recipe till everythings done, then a slow cooker is the way to go (and its cheaper to run.)
I did this with saute pots.
i cut my pots into small pieces 1″x1″ ish and covered with rosemary and olive oil and added diced smoked bacon. cook for about 45mins ish on 220/240 oven turn once to coat.
also served mixed veg. lovely…
HEAVENLY!!!!! Googled Beef stifado and found this recipie – made it for 14 persons and there was not a spoonful left after the meal. Actually the men in the family fought over the last spoon and it was just funny. Best stifado outside of Greece that we have ever had. Thank you
Hi, just been looking at your recipe for greek stifado. will be making it this weekend. I do make a pretty good stifado which was shown to me by a greek chef but his as a half teaspoon of allspice and the tinned tom`s are substituted by the same amount of pasata. How do you think it will differ from your recipe as everything else is exact to yours?
It’s hard to say without tasting both!
I’d imagine that the sauce would be a bit smoother using his recipe and it will probably be a little more fragrant from the allspice. Still, it’s nice to know that my recipe is reasonably authentic!
attempting to make your stifado for the first time when you say 1/8 teaspoons of ground cloves what do you mean exactly
You should be able to buy ground cloves at any supermarket. Further info on cloves can be found here: http://www.schwartz.co.uk/handsguide.cfm?id=5139
Love stifado and going to try your recipe this weekend. I love the fact that you’ve put points values aswell as I follow the WW plan and you’ve taken the hasstle out of calculating it for me! Thanks.
Also, don’t know if anyone has ever tried Beef Kokkinisto but its quite similar and just as lovely!
HELP! made a lovely stew, but seem to have put a little too much cloves in. How can I rescue it? Please help. thanks, kathy
Whoops! I think I’d try adding some more tomatoes and cooking them down in the sauce to more or less dilute the cloves. Otherwise, grin and bear it!!!
Thank you for posting this lovely recipe. I stumbled across it googling for something new to do with Charlotte potatoes, and started to drool as I read the stifado recipe, so I made it today, for a wintry day down here in Australia. Heaven!
Have cooked this a number of times using this recipe…..instead of using stewing steak I use beef medallions browned in olive oil and butter…..absolutely lovely. I usually put in a whole bottle of red, and if you can get it use a greek red called Katogi Averoff – a beautiful wine. Sometimes I use 7 roasted garlic cloves in mashed spuds with a side order of tzatziki….that being generously loaded with garlic. M’aresi para poly.
Have you ever used walnuts or feta cheese in your stifado?
Susan