Stifado- a classic dish of Greek cuisine, which is based on meat stewed in onions. Typically in Greece, stifado is prepared from rabbit with small onions (shallots) and dry red wine. There are several opinions about the origin of the name of the recipe “Stifado. Some say that this name comes from the ancient Greek word for typhus - par. Others claim that the name of the recipe “Stifado” comes from the Italian word “Stufato” - stew. In any case, no matter what this recipe is called, "Rabbit Stifado"- This is a tender stew of rabbit meat in tomato sauce with a subtle aroma of cinnamon and other Mediterranean seasonings.

Updated recipe for "Rabbit Stifado"

Ingredients :

• Rabbit meat 1.2 kg
• Canned tomatoes in their own juice 750 - 950 gr.
• 100 grams of tomato paste
• 0.5 kg of onion (regular onions are used in the recipe)
• 2 glasses of dry red wine
• Olive oil for frying
• 4 - 5 cloves of garlic
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 3 - 4 pcs. carnations
• 3 - 4 bay leaves
• Teaspoon oregano
• Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

Fry the rabbit in a frying pan on all sides in olive oil, and then transfer the fried meat to the pan in which we will simmer our Stifado.

In the hot frying pan in which the rabbit was fried, add a little olive oil and add tomato paste, fry it for 3 minutes, stirring constantly.

Then add onion, cut into half rings, to the tomato paste. I usually put onion sets in Stifado, but since now is not the season for them, and it takes a long time to clean small onions, regular onions are also quite suitable. Fry the onion and tomato paste for another 5 minutes (until soft).

And then so on.
In the previous version of the recipe, I added 5 - 7 grated tomatoes. But since this time I’m preparing Stifado in the winter, you can probably only find really sweet and tasty tomatoes in a can :))) Therefore, in the updated recipe I decided to use canned tomatoes in their own juice.

So let's continue.
Grind the canned tomatoes in a blender (you can also add half a glass of the juice in which the tomatoes were in the blender) and pour our mixture into a frying pan with tomato paste and onions. We also send garlic, chopped in a garlic press, there.

Simmer our sauce for another 5 - 7 minutes, and then pour it into the pan with the rabbit.

Add 2 glasses of red wine and spices: salt, ground pepper, 2 cinnamon sticks, cloves (be careful with this spice - cloves have a very strong taste, and if there is too much of it in a dish, it will taste bitter), a teaspoon of oregano and a few bay leaves sheets. Mix the contents of the pan well and simmer our Stifado over low heat for about 1 hour 30 minutes.

Bon appetit!

In Greece, different housewives may prepare stifado a little differently. After all, this is one of the dishes that does not require strict adherence to the recipe. Rabbit stifado can differ in the composition of seasonings; different onions can be used in preparing the dish, from small to onions... But most of all, Greek housewives like to stew the meat until the onions turn into jelly, which can take several hours . One thing remains unchanged - the original and unique taste, giving us the mood of the sunny Mediterranean...

Stifado (meat stewed in a thick sauce) is one of the most interesting, in my opinion, Greek dishes. In addition to the excellent taste and Mediterranean aromas, it is interesting because a good stifado recipe is not very easy to find. Those in cookbooks do not give the desired result, and Greek taverns keep their recipes secret. It seems that the ingredients are clear and everything seems uncomplicated, but there are a number of nuances. Stifado is made with different types of meat - rabbit, goat, lamb. But the most common type is with beef.

In general, I had to search and work to achieve the taste that I remembered a dozen years ago, when I first tried this dish. By the way, the good thing about stifado is that you don’t need to buy Angus or Kobe beef for it. An ordinary domestic one will do, of course a decent cut.

Like many Greek meat dishes, stifado cooks slowly, so be patient and start early. The result is worth it.

• Beef, trimmed from veins and hard fat, 800-1000g
• Small young onions, or shallots, 500g
• Garlic, 3 cloves
• Red dry rich wine, 1 cup
• Red wine vinegar, 2 tbsp. spoons
• Beef broth, 1 cup
• Tomato puree, 1/2 cup
• Olive oil XO
• Cinnamon, 1 stick
• Bay leaf, 2 pcs.
• Allspice (Jamaican) pepper, 7-8 peas
• Black SM pepper

Cut the beef into fairly large pieces.

Mix black pepper and salt with flour and roll the meat in it.

Fry the meat in olive oil on all sides. Place in a dish suitable for the oven.

Fry the onion in the same oil (do not chop!), and add the garlic a little later.

We put it all in an oven. Cinnamon, bay leaf and allspice also go there.

Pour in wine, vinegar (a mandatory ingredient!), broth and tomato puree, stir.

Cover with a lid and place in the oven at 160 C for at least 3 hours. You can use 4. If at the end the sauce, in your opinion, has not reached the desired thickness, you can evaporate it a little with the lid open.

Tired of the usual roast dinner? Then prepare a delicious Mediterranean dish - stifado. Translated from Greek, the name means stew. You probably already guessed what this dish is. Let's start creating a culinary masterpiece?

Classic beef stifado

You will need:

• beef – 700 grams,
• tomato – 4 pieces,
• shallots – 10 pieces,
• bay leaf – 1 piece,
• cloves – 2 buds,
• dried oregano – 1 teaspoon,
• dry red wine – 200 ml,
• olive oil - for frying,
• salt - to taste.

Cooking method

1. Wash the beef. Let's dry. We remove the veins. Cut into cubes approximately 4x4 centimeters in size.
2. Fry the meat in heated olive oil.
3. Place the fried meat in a saucepan, pour in the wine and put on the fire. We simmer for an hour. Don’t forget to look under the lid from time to time; if the wine evaporates, add a little water.
4. Peel the onion and fry until light golden.
5. Peel the tomatoes (only sweet varieties are suitable for making stifado). Cut into cubes. Combine with onion and fry a little more.
6. Combine roasted vegetables with stewed meat.
7. Add spices. Mix.
8. Pour in a glass of water. Simmer over moderate heat for another hour. After the specified time has passed, try the meat; if it seems not too soft to you, then you need to simmer it a little more.
9. Serve the stifado with white wine and white bread.

Stifado with rabbit

You will need:

• rabbit meat – 800 grams,
• shallots – 1 kilogram,
• olive oil – 100 ml,
• red wine – 100 ml,
• garlic – 2 cloves,
• tomato – 2 pieces,
• bay leaf - 1 piece,
• cinnamon – 1 stick,
• allspice - to taste,
• salt - to taste.

Cooking method

1. Cut the meat into large portions.
2. Heat the olive oil in a deep frying pan and place the meat in it. Fry.
3. We peel the garlic. Finely chop. We send it to the meat.
4. Pour in the wine. Simmer until the liquid evaporates.
5. Grate the tomatoes and combine with the meat.
6. Add the spices indicated in the list of ingredients.
7. If there is not enough liquid to stew the meat, add a little more water and simmer for half an hour.
8. Meanwhile, clean the onion, deep-fry it until golden brown and combine with the meat. If you don't have a deep fryer, a regular deep frying pan will do just fine.
9. Stifado simmer for another quarter of an hour, after which you can take a sample!

Octopus stifado

You will need:

• octopus carcass – 1 kilogram,
• garlic – 5 cloves,
• red wine – 100 grams,
• vinegar 6% - 2 tablespoons,
• olive oil – 2 tablespoons,
• tomato – 4 pieces,
• bay leaf - 1 piece,
• cinnamon – 1 stick,
• ground black pepper - to taste,
• allspice - to taste,
• salt - to taste.

Cooking method

1. We clean the octopus, rinse it and place it in a pan with water (the carcass should be one-quarter covered). We put it on fire.
2. After the liquid has completely evaporated, take out the octopus, cut it into pieces and place it in a frying pan with high sides.
3. Meanwhile, peel the garlic. Cut into slices. Lightly fry in olive oil. Combine with octopus meat.
4. Pour in red wine and vinegar.
5. Wash the tomatoes. Grate or grind in a blender. Combine with octopus.
6. Add the listed spices.
7. We put it on fire. Simmer for 10 minutes.
8. Add the peeled onion to the aromatic octopus meat. We continue to simmer for another 30 minutes, stirring the deliciousness periodically.
9. Octopus stifado is ready! We transfer it to a beautiful dish and serve it to the table.

This dish comes from Greece. There stifado, in other words, beef stew, served with pasta. After cooking it several times, you will certainly become addicted to its intense aroma, and then you can replace the beef with rabbit, for example.

Preparation:

1. Cut the beef into pieces.
2. Heat the oil in a saucepan and fry the meat over high heat until well browned. It's best to fry in batches. When ready, transfer to a separate plate.
3. Cut the onions in half and place in the same pan. Cook over medium heat until the onion is softened but not browned. 10 minutes.
4. Pour in cognac, wine and red wine vinegar, cover and let simmer for 3 minutes.
5. Add meat, chopped tomatoes, tomato puree, bay leaf, allspice and nutmeg.
6. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer everything for 1.5 hours. Be sure to check the fluid level. If necessary, pour in half a glass of boiled water and stir.
7. Towards the end, season well with salt and pepper to taste.

As soon as the beef becomes soft and the sauce thickens, the stifado is ready. Beef stifado is served with pasta and grated cheese or boiled new potatoes.

Bon appetit!