GIOUVETSI

(TOMATO BEEF ORZO)

Giouvetsi is a hearty Greek oven baked dish of tender beef (or sometimes lamb) stewed in a rich tomato based sauce and baked together with kritharaki (orzo) or hilopites (small square egg pasta), often finished with a generous dusting of grated kefalotyri or fresh parsley. It hails from mainland Greece and the islands, with roots in Ottoman era cooking and traditional peasant kitchens where slow cooking in a clay pot, the giouvetsi pot, developed into the beloved comfort food classic it is today. Despite the tray oven bake is more common, I cook my giouvetsi in one large pot so it can be a one pot wonder, leaving for less clean up and a more streamline recipe.

There are many regional and family variations, some use beef, others lamb, goat or even chicken. The pasta can be kritharaki (orzo) for a risotto like texture or hilopites for a heartier bite. Additions like cinnamon, bay leaf, cloves, red wine or a splash of ouzo tweak the flavour, and some cooks finish with béchamel for extra creaminess. Greeks eat giouvetsi year round as a satisfying Sunday family meal, at festive gatherings and religious holidays, and it's especially popular in cooler months when slow cooked stews reign supreme.

GIOUVETSI

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GIOUVETSI 〰️

Time: 2 hours + 20 minutes

Serves: 4-5

800gm gravy/chuck beef cut into medium cubes

2 brown onion, finely diced

1 tbl sp all spice

1 tbl sp paprika

1/2 tbl sp gr cinnamon

1 tea sp gr nutmeg (optional)

3 bay leaves

70gm tomato paste

1/2 cup red wine

400gm can crushed tomatoes

500ml beef stock

250gm orzo pasta

Olive oil

Salt & Black pepper

Garnish: rough chopped fresh parsley

Place heavy large pot on medium high heat. Add a thin layer of oil to the base of the pot and once the temperate on the base is hot, in two batches place down the pieces of beef. Sear for 2 minutes on both sides until deeply charred to seal the meat. Once all the beef is seared, place on plate to the side.

Add in onion into the pot and reduce heat down to medium to allow the onion to sweat down for 7 minutes. Add salt here to help the onion breakdown. After 7 minutes add in all spice, paprika, cinnamon, nutmeg, few cracks black pepper and bay leaves and mix through and sizzle for 1 minute. Add in tomato paste and stir through and cook out for 1 minute. Add in red wine and mix, and then allow to reduce down until 3/4 of the wine has gone.

You’ll have a deep dark sludge like texture at this point, go ahead and add in crushed tomato can, beef stock and 400ml (a can full) of water. Add in the seared beef and mix through. Add a couple solid pinches of salt and bring to a simmer. Once simmering place lid on top and allow to simmer away for 1 hour.

Prep 400ml of boiling water. Once the 60 minutes is up, pour in 250gm of orzo pasta with 400ml of boiling water. Bring back to a gentle simmer and allow to simmer for 20 minutes. Make sure you give it a little stir every 5 minutes, so nothing sticks to the bottom.

Once time is up or the orzo is al dente, take off heat and allow to rest for a few 10 minutes, before jumping in with a couple of forks and shredding the beef through the pasta, or leave in chunks and serve up with fresh parsley.