Learn to make Diane Kochilas’ hearty winter braised beef dish with tangy Greek olives. The dish goes perfectly with pasta, especially noodles and fettuccine or Greek hilopittes, but also pairs well with rice, mashed potatoes, and more. Enjoy a Greek red wine with it, too, and don’t forget to accompany it with a Greek salad or any other Mediterranean salad, using fresh seasonal vegetables, herbs, and plenty of extra virgin olive oil.
Beef Stew with Olives is Greek comfort food, brought to you step by step by Greek cooking guru Diane Kochilas.
5-6 servings
½ cup extra-virgin Greek olive oil, plus more for garnish
2 — 2 ½ pounds beef, cut into big pieces
Salt
2 medium-size onions, peeled and finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
3 cups chopped fresh peeled or canned tomatoes
1 cup dry white wine
1 big piece of orange peel plus grated zest for garnish
2 bay leaves, ripped
1 tsp. dried oregano
4-5 allspice berries
Freshly ground black pepper
2 carrots, peeled and whole
2 celery stems, trimmed
1 cup Greek green olives, pitted
1. In a large heavy pot, heat olive oil in medium heat and add meat, turning frequently to brown on all sides evenly. Season with salt when browned.
2. Add the onion and stir. Stir in the garlic. Sauté until wilted. Add tomatoes, stir and extinguish with white wine. Pour in a little water at room temperature; add the orange peel, bay leaves, oregano, berries, pepper, carrots and celery. Stir and pour in more water if needed to cover the 2/3 of the contents of the pot. Cover the pot and simmer until the sauce thickens and the meat is cooked, about 1 ½ to 2 hours.
3. About 10 minutes before removing pot from heat, add the olives and stir well to blend.
4. Serve garnished with grated zest, ground pepper and raw olive oil. It pairs greatly with mashed potatoes, rice, pasta, even Greek fried potatoes!
This is the Greek Food Channel http://www.dianekochilas.com/
Come to visit Diane and Vassili at their GLORIOUS GREEK KITCHEN COOKING SCHOOL (Ikaria). They run cooking classes and organize culinary tours in Greece for recreational and professional cooks. They also own DV FOOD ARTS CONSULTING, a food marketing company that produces specialty books and other food-and-wine-related literature for a wide variety of clients and independently for the tourist and other markets. Diane consults on Greek cuisine for restaurants, retail outlets and producers of fine Greek foods. Vassilis Stenos (photographer) offers an extensive archive of food and travel photographs of Greece.
Diane Kochilas is an internationally known food writer, cookbook author, culinary teacher, food consultant and food “guru”. She has more than 20 years’ experience in the Greek kitchen. Diane divides her time between Athens, Ikaria, and New York. She is the consulting chef at Pylos, one of New York’s top-rated Greek restaurants as well as consulting chef at Avli Restaurant in Chicago. She writes frequently for the US food press and appears regularly on American television. Her articles have appeared in The New York Times, Gourmet, Saveur, Food & Wine, Eating Well and in other food and general-interest publications. In Athens, she is the weekly food columnist and restaurant critic for Ta Nea, the country’s largest newspaper. She has written 19 books on Greek and Mediterranean cuisine, including the award-winning The Glorious Foods of Greece. Her books include: The Food and Wine of Greece, The Greek Vegetarian, The Glorious Foods of Greece, Meze, Against the Grain (good carbs), Mediterranean Grilling, Mastiha Cuisine, The Northern Greek Wine Roads Cookbook, and Aegean Cuisine (see below).
She is also a consultant for Hellenic Gourmet, the duty free food shops at the Venizelos International Airport and around Greece, to help upgrade the store’s selection and source product. Her knowledge of Greek regional foods, wines, and culinary lore is extensive.
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