Beef stifado recipe

Beef stifado is a traditional Greek beef stew recipe that's full of Mediterranean flavours.

This hearty one-pot beef stifado recipe requires just five minutes of prep time but for the best results should be left to marinate for a few hours or ideally overnight, so you'll need to plan ahead. Once the flavours have soaked into the beef, this stifado can be cooked in 30 minutes. This recipe serves between six to eight people, so is a great option if you have plenty of mouths to feed or if you like to batch cook recipes and freeze for later. Serve with rice, pasta or potatoes.

Ingredients

For the marinade:

• 2-3 sprigs rosemary
• 2-3 bay leaves
• 2tsps dried or 2 tbsps freshly chopped oregano
• 125ml red wine
• 2tbsps red wine vinegar
• 2-3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
• 3-4 cloves
• 1-2 cinnamon sticks, broken into large pieces

For the beef:

• 750g-1kg  diced beef
• 6tbsps light olive oil
• 500g shallots or small onions, peeled
• 400g can chopped tomatoes
• 2tbsps tomato purée
• 1 beef stock cube
• Orzo pasta, to serve
• Oregano leaves, for garnish

Method

1. Mix together all the ingredients for the marinade, then stir in the beef, cover the bowl and leave in the fridge for a few hours or, preferably, overnight.
2. Set the oven to 180°C/356°F/Gas Mark 4. Heat 2 tbsps of olive oil in a large pan and cook the shallots, or small onions, for 7-10 mins, until they start to turn golden, then remove them from the pan and set aside. Drain the beef as well as possible, reserving the marinade juices.
3. Heat 2 more tbsps of oil and cook half the drained beef until it's seared on all sides and starting to turn brown, then transfer it to a casserole dish. Heat the remaining oil, cook the rest of the beef and add to the casserole.
4. Pour the marinade into the pan and add the chopped tomatoes, tomato purée, the stock cube and 100ml water. Bring the mixture to the boil, then pour it into the casserole over the beef. Season. Cover the dish and cook in the oven for 1 hour.
5. Add the shallots or onions to the casserole, re-cover and cook for a further hour, or until the meat is tender. Serve with orzo, garnished with oregano leaves.

Top tip for making beef stifado

When searing meat, don't turn it too much as that reduces the temperature of the pan. Allow one surface to brown, then turn, until seared all over.

This recipe is perfect for making in bulk, have a look at some of our other batch cooking recipes and ideas for more inspiration.