Giouvetsi with Beef
This post is for my niece Lindsay. She had leftovers of Giouvetsi at my mom’s house when I went up to visit for mom’s 80th birthday this past October. I made dinner one night and this worked out because I could use the crock pot and not fuss too much while visiting.
The ingredients are simple and inexpensive. Since the meat is a less expensive type of meat (beef chuck), it takes time to make tender. Like a many Greek dishes, time is the most expensive ingredient. Giouvetsi is a dish all the aunts in Greece make for us when we visit. It’s total comfort food. I always pay attention when Thea Nikki is cooking. Hands down, the finest cook I know. No matter what is going on in the house, she has a watchful eye on everything in the kitchen.
I recently just started using the crock pot for this. You do not have to, you can use a shallow roasting pan and the oven as I have done until now.
This recipe will feed 6 people easily, with some leftovers.
First, heat a pot with the bottom of the pot covered in good cooking olive oil. By that I mean, not the really good olive oil you would eat in a salad and scoop up at the end of the salad with bread, but decent Trader Joe’s olive oil is good. Add a chopped medium brown onion, season with salt and pepper and saute until almost tender.
Next add the meat, season with salt and pepper and let it brown on the first side before trying to move it or it will stick to the pot. Brown the meat in batches to avoid over crowding the pot. Brown meat on all sides and remove to the pan you will be transferring to the oven or to the crock pot as they are ready.
Add the crushed tomatoes to the browning pot and heat on medium, scraping the pot to make sure all the bits of meat are incorporated into the sauce. Season with salt and pepper and simmer for a few minutes.
Next pour the sauce over the meat and add whole allspice (if using). If using cinnamon, don’t add until the end. I used cinnamon for the longest time (20 years or so) until I ate at a Greek restaurant and read their description of the meal and saw they used whole allspice, so I tried it and use it when I have it.
If using a crock pot, cook on high for at least 4 hours until the meat is tender. This will depend on how big your pieces of meat are and your crock pot. If you are using the oven, cover and cook 3 to 4 hours on 325° until the meat is tender. If using cinnamon (not whole allspice), add cinnamon at this point.
Cook a pound of rice shaped pasta (Krithiraki) or Orzo in salted water about 3 minutes less than the instructions and save a cup or two of the pasta water when draining. You can find Orzo in almost any market, you don’t have to find Greek Krithiraki. I happen to have a Middle Eastern market near work that sells it (yay!)
Add the drained pasta to the pan of meat and sauce and combine completely. Continue cooking until the orzo is finished cooking and absorbs the sauce. This is where photos are helpful because you want it to have some sauce and not be sticky and dry, but not too saucy and you can see in the photo what I mean. If you don’t think there is going to be enough liquid to finish cooking the pasta, you can add some of the reserved pasta water, that’s why I save it, just in case. It’s better to use pasta water than plain tap water, in my opinion. (see note)
So now you can add the cheese! I use a couple cups of shredded Kasseri cheese. Von’s/Safeway sells it by the Stella brand, but I get it at the Middle Eastern market (again, yay!). If you can’t find that, I have use a more readily available Asiago and Parmesean combination. Don’t use just Parmesean, it needs to be a melty cheese, so combine the two. The Parmesean gives it a nice sharp salty bite to the Asiago. Put the cheese on top and finish baking until melted. Serve up with some crusty bread and salad.
Note: If you are at all concerned about the ratio of moisture needed to continue cooking the pasta in the sauce, you can fully cook the pasta before adding it to the sauce, mix thoroughly and then continue on with the cheese. I’ve done this many times and the flavor is only somewhat affected.
Recipe/Ingredients
About 1/3 cup good quality extra virgin olive oil (enough to coat the bottom of your pot)
1 Medium brown onion, chopped
2 1/2 Pounds beef chuck cut into 4-6 similar sized chunks
1 28oz Can of crushed tomatoes (don’t get it with basil or other herbs added)
1 lb Krithiraki or orzo
2 Cups of shredded kasseri or asiago/parmesean mix
Handful of whole allspice or 1/2 tsp of ground cinnamon
Salt and Pepper