Lamb Stifado

Submitted by Jenny Sanders

"All the recipes I have seen for stifado have called for small, whole onions. This one did too, until I got my hands on it. When I first made it, I couldn't get small onions, and so I substituted regular cooking onions. When I was finally able to make it with the tiny onions, I was a little disappointed - I love the way the onion bits cook almost to a sauce, and are so sweet and mild. The smell of this stew is just amazing, and the flavour lives up to the promise of the aroma."

 

• Ready In: 4hrs 30mins
• Ingredients: 15
• Serves: 4

ingredients

• 6 medium onions, peeled and coarsely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 lb boneless stewing lamb
• 1 cup crushed tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1⁄4 cup water
• 2 -3 bay leaves
• 1 inch cinnamon
• 6 allspice berries
• 3 whole cloves
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1⁄2 cup red wine
• 1⁄4 cup red wine vinegar
• salt & pepper

directions

1. Saute the onions and garlic in the olive oil until turning brown and soft.
2. Remove and set them aside.
3. Add the meat and brown well.
4. Add all the remaining ingredients, including the onions.
5. Add water to just cover.
6. Tightly cover the pot and simmer very slowly for 2 to 4 hours, stirring occasionally.
7. Like most stews, this is better reheated the next day.

Reviews

[Bernard C.]

I know its a year from your comment but I hope this helps. I suspect Jasmine was using American cup sizes for vinegar: that is half a pint in this recipe. That's a wine glass on every plate. The recipe was possibly using Greek coffee cups. Particularly if you convert this recipe for chicken, rabbit, or pork, a better way if doing it is to soak the meat in a covering of the vinegar for ten minutes when you start Then drain it off roughly. You want it still wet but no spare liquid running off to firm the sauce. It works with beef or lamb too, but just adding a couple of tablespoons will do for them. Giving time to marinade the meat a bit is less important for stronger flavoured meats.

 

[jasmine1150]

There's something terribly wrong with the proportions of this recipe. It turned out unbearably sour. I doubled the recipe ,but i followed the recipe to the T. Such a waste of ingredients. There are other recipes on the net for lamb stifado and they call for considerably smaller amount of wine andnparticularly vinegar, then too for much larger piece of lamb. And the method is slightly different. .. It didn't work for me, although other people have rated it 3 stars, i cant give more than 1 star.

 

[jrwright1948]

I think Greek cooks use little pickled white onions in this dish-see Keith Floyd around the Med cooking

 

[bectoria]

Lovely, simple recipe that produces a really flavourful, comforting stew, reminds me of holidays on Greek islands and tastes like it took a lot more work than it does!

 

[elessi]

great recipe my friend said it was like being back on holiday