Hello my fellow readers! I hope you are doing well and having a good start to your September. Fall is among us and I have A NEW exciting dish for you. I went to Greece in August just for about 10 days or so, which is a very short trip indeed. While on the island of Corfu I discovered a Corfiot dish that really resembles one of my most loved dishes in Mani which is ” Moschari Kokkinisto” which is so delicious. What is pastitsada you may ask? It is slow-cooked beef stew in a cinnamon tomato sauce and then served over pasta, rice, or mashed potatoes.

I was lucky enough to try this traditional Corfu dish at a restaurant hidden amongst the busy central streets. See the photo below of this dish.

Because I absolutely enjoyed this dish, I thought why not make it with my chef friend David. We combined of course our own twists to the traditional recipe which included Metaxa and some other ingredients. I hope you enjoy this recipe and please check out the NEW exciting “A Day In A Life of A Chef” happening all week long. To start this fun event, we share our Pastitsada Recipe. We hope you enjoy this as much as we did the other night eating it. 🙂

Pastitsada Recipe

Serves 4-5

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
• 3 cups of beef stewing steak cut into 1-inch cubes
• 2 cloves of garlic, grated
• 1 leek, finely diced
• 1 white onion, diced
• 2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon powder
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 can of tomato juice (preferably 16 oz)
• 1 pinch of red pepper flakes
• 1/4 cup of Metaxa ( You can use Metaxa or the traditional way is red wine)
• Salt & Cracked black pepper for taste
• To serve:
• Parmesan cheese
• Fresh chopped parsley
• Penne pasta (Prepare according to package instructions)

Method:

1. Prepare the beef cubes. In a large pot brown the beef cubes in olive oil over medium heat. Once the beef is browned on both sides, set aside on a plate.
2. Add the onions and garlic to the same pot and saute for about 3-4 minutes. Add the beef cubes back to the pot and season with salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. Add the cinnamon, bay leaf, tomato sauce, water, Metaxa, or wine. Cover the pot and simmer for about 1 half hours or until the meat is very tender.
3. While stew is cooking, prepare the pasta. Cook pasta al dente and drizzle a bit with olive oil then set aside.
4. Once the beef stew is ready serve over pasta and enjoy with a good amount of cheese and parsley.

Kali Orexi!

Don’t forget to join us this week for a fun event of “A Day In The Life of A Chef” live from London.

You can send in any questions or comments to the chef here. We will answer this week on the blog.