Giouvetsi

Beef Giouvetsi YUMMMMMM you can do this with different meats but for me beef is the winner.

A Greek favourite of mine... the beef is so soft, the orzo is so silky, the flavours work perfectly together and it just feels like a big Greek hug in a bowl.

A little more time consuming and fussy than my normal recipes on here but well worth it I promise!!

This will feed 4 generously with plenty of leftovers.

Ingredients

• Stewing beef, 1kg into chunks

• Olive oil

• 3 red onions roughly chopped

• 1 leek sliced into 6mm rounds

• 3 medium carrots

• 1 Cinnamon stick

• 4 bay leaves

• Fresh thyme

• Fresh rosemary

• 1 tablespoon of dried oregano

• 1 level teaspoon of ground cumin

• Flaked salt

• Freshly ground black pepper

• 2 big tablespoons of Tomato paste

• 1 400g tin of chopped tomatoes

• 2 large fresh tomatoes chopped

• 150ml red wine

• Sprinkle of sugar

• 250g Orzo pasta

• Feta cheese

• Fresh parsley

You need a pan and a pot with a lid here, I use a wide high sided pot at this stage. It needs to be big enough to fit all the ingredients plus 1ltr of water. You will also need an oven proof dish later.

In the pan, add a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, heat to medium heat and add your beef to brown it off (It’s fine if you need to do this in batches) Add a good pinch of flaked salt and fresh ground black pepper. Let that brown, turning every so often while you do the next part in the pot.

Add a tablespoon of olive oil to the pot, heat to a medium heat and add your onions, leek and carrots. Mix those together and let them soften slightly. Add your cinnamon stick, bay leaves, oregano and cumin. Mix that all together and leave for a few seconds then mix in your tomato paste.

Once they are all combined, add your wine and stir around, turn the heat up a bit and let the wine reduce by about half.

Add you tinned and fresh tomatoes, salt, pepper, sugar and the rest of the herbs. Mix everything together well and bring to a simmer.

When the beef is browned all over, add it to the tomato mix and stir in.

Add 400ml of water and stir everything together well and bring it to a simmer.

Turn the heat down to low-medium, just so it bubbles softly, put a lid on and leave like that for 2-3 hours or until the beef is soft and falling apart. Keep an eye on it, if it starts to dry out, add a bit more water.

Once you are happy with the beef, check the seasoning and adjust as needed.

Pre heat your oven to 180degrees fan.

Grab a pan again and add around 4-5 tablespoons of olive oil. Heat and add your orzo. Mix the orzo into the oil and let it heat for a a couple of minutes then add it to you beef. Mix everything around and transfer the whole thing to an ovenproof dish.

I usually take out the bay leaves, cinnamon stick etc out at this point.

Add 650ml of water and stir everything together well.

Cover with foil tightly and bake in the oven for about 30mins until the orzo is cooked.

When it’s done, stir it around and sprinkle plenty of crumbled feta and freshly chopped parsley on top and serve!