MEAT WEEK 1: Potted Veal in red wine and tomato sauce

Tender veal slowly cooked in tomato sauce along with small onions brings to mind the traditional "stifado" recipe. Only in a rather lighter version I would say, regardless the presence of the bacon. The good quality of the red wine used is rather essential in this recipe because it will come so nicely together with the sweet onions and the bacon. There are so many Greek good reds in the market but also a Syrah will do the job perfectly in this case. You can serve the food as it is but also you could accompany it with steamed white rice or tagliatelle

Cooked by Nikos Maounis,

slightly adapted from a recipe leaflet
of the Greek supermarket "AB Vassilopoulos"

Ingredients (for 4 people):
800gr.- 1Kg of veal culotte (top sirloin cap steak), cut in cubes

6 slices of streaky bacon, cut in small pieces

12-14 small baby shallot or cipollini onions

1-2 tbsp of butter

3-4 tbsp of olive oil

1-2 large cloves of garlic, thinly sliced

4-5 tbsp of passata tomato (tomato purée)

3-4 leveled tbsp of all-purpose flour

1 cup of hot water
1 tsp of granulated sugar

1 tea-cup of red dry wine

Method:
Peel the onions and keep whole in a bowl.

In a wide pot warm the butter and the oil on medium-high heat and sauté the meat in batches stirring with a wooden spatula until it is nicely coloured on all sides. Transfer the meat with a slotted spoon on a plate.

Then add in the pot the bacon, the garlic and the onions and sauté gently stirring with the spatula a few times before you put the meat back in. *** If needed, add some extra butter.

Sprinkle with the flour and thoroughly but gently stir the food. Then add first the tomato, then the water and in the end the wine. Stir with the spatula and when the ingredients come to the boil, cover with the lid and turn the heat down to medium-low.

Simmer the food for about 1 hour 30 minutes or until the meat is really tender and the sauce nicely thickened. *** Try not to stir while cooking so the onions and the meat will keep their shape.

Serve while it is still hot.