The Greek Food

Tag: baked

  • Giouvetsi with Beef

    Giouvetsi with Beef

    Giouvetsi is an old Greek recipe that Greeks used to do in the oven. As years went there were some small changes in the recipe but the essentials remained the same….and the taste of course.

    I remember when my mother was making us food when we were young she always had problems explaining to us how should we warm up the food as she was working and couldn’t come home on time. For Giouvetsi however it was much easier…you just take it from the oven where she left and start eating it as a maniac…(which we did)

    Giouvetsi recipe
    My Giouvetsi covered with cheese

    Giouvetsi it’s a typical Greek food that you can do it either with Beef, lamb or chicken and pasta – ideally kritharaki.

    Kritharaki is Greek style pasta which is a little bit longer than rice and usually you can find it in any kind of shop that is selling Middle East food.

    INGREDIENTS GIOUVETSI WITH BEEF

    • 1 kilo of Beef
    • 350gr of Orzo
    • 1 can of tomato juice
    • 1 Red onion chopped
    • Salt, Pepper and trimmed cheese to serve

    METHOD FOR GIOUVETSI

    1. Chop the meat into various sizes and preheat the oven to 160c.
    2. In a pot add a bit of Olive oil and heat the onion a bit for 10 minutes. Add the meat and continue until it becomes brownish from all sides.
    3. Remove it from the heat, take a good size oven pan and add it over there together with the tomato juice around 1-2 glasses of water, depending on your pan. Put it in the oven for around 2 hours.
    4. Later on remove it from the oven and add the orzo together with 2-3 spoons of olive oil, salt and pepper. Use a spoon to make sure it goes all over the pan and focus that there is enough water to cover the past. If it doesn’t, then just add a bit more of warm water.
    5. Place it back to the oven on 180-200c and leave it there for 30 minutes more.  Orzo must not be melted but in the same time without having all the water evaporated.

    Serve it with trimmed cheese.

    Notes

    1. My mother –and always mothers advices count- told me that you can cook the pasta before as you do usually your pasta and then add them both in the oven in the same way. It is easier and makes the meat more tender as it doesn’t need to stay for too long in the oven. It’s a different way…but still good…
    2. Try adding some Feta cheese in the pasta when you put it in the oven….classic… 🙂
    giouvetsi
    Giouvetsi, Beef with Orzo in red sauce, sprinkled with Greek Feta Cheese
  • Gemista – Greek Stuffed tomatoes and peppers

    Gemista – Greek Stuffed tomatoes and peppers

    The following is by far my favourite Greek Dish. Ok this and souvlakia which you can read here. Well, both ways Gemista is a recipe I really like to cook and one of the most traditional Greek recipes you can find.

    It takes a lot of time though and needs some preparation, so don’t start to do it if you really don’t have time.

    Nevertheless if you try it once, I am sure you will try it again… Just before we go to the ingredients, a simple note, the size of the peppers and tomatoes must be more or less the same or else its possible some of them not be rightly cooked..

    In Greece many people debate whether Gemista should be served with minced meat or without making them a purely Vegetarian food. As if we didn’t had any other reasons to fight… Thats the reason why the recipe is placed in multiple categories on my blog. The only thing that you have to do is prepare the stuffing with the minced meat and the rest is more or less the same.

    The truth is that either way its great. It is a great dish especially for the summer when tomatoes and peppers are at their best!

    INGREDIENTS FOR GEMISTA (GREEK STUFFED TOMATOES AND PEPPERS) RECIPE

    Gemista
    Stuffed tomatoes, peppers and potatoes
    • 500gr of minced meat beef
    • 4-5 beef tomatoes and 1 pepper
    • 1 cup of rice
    • 1 onion finely chopped
    • 2cloves of garlic
    • 1 small bunch of parsley chopped
    • Olive Oil, salt, pepper
    • 1 can of tomato juice.

    HOW TO COOK GEMISTA

    • First of all we need to make the stuffing that we are going to fill in the vegetables.
    • We need to cut the tomatoes making a little “hat” on top of them and with a spoon to remove all of its inside. Dont throw it away,we will need it!
    • So go ahead and grab a deep frying pan and add 2 tea spoons of olive oil and in medium heat throw in the onions and the garlic. Let them sizzle a bit and stir them. Be careful not to burn them.
    • Throw the minced meat in and stir it well until it becomes brownish.
    • Add Salt, pepper and 2-3 teaspoons of oregano. Pour the tomato juice and the inside juice from the tomatoes you have removed. Let it cook for 5-6 minutes making sure you stir it in the mean time.
    • Add the rice and then fill the frying pan with water and let it boil. Let it cook and taste it in the mean time to make sure that the rice is cooked..
    • As it is being cooked the water will evaporate and a lit bit before its done you should add the chopped parsley removing it from the heat
    • You need to stuff the tomatoes and the peppers with the mixture.
    • Take a spoon and simple add the mixture inside but dont over do it because that might crack the tomatoes.
    • When you fill them, you need to close the tomatoes and peppers with the tops.
    • Bake it in a preheated oven for around an hour…an hour and a half. Make sure that your pan, has always a bit of water in it. For the pan i have on the picture i just added a glass. The water evaporates making sure the tomatoes are getting softer.
    • When the vegetables become slightly blackened on the sides then it’s ready. Don’t serve it immediately but let it “mellow” for some minutes.
    • It is best done with oven baked potatoes which you can add in the same pan.

    This is typically a summer food that you can have even cold. Hope you enjoy it!

    Gemista
    Our Stuffed tomatoes and Peppers are ready!