Tina's greek stifatho

1 Servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
1½ cup TVP chunks; (I think that's quorn for you Brits--thanks, Cliff!)
3 Cloves of garlic; sliced, up to 5
1 large Bayleaf
1 Cinnamon stick; cut in half
1 teaspoon Allspice; or 4 whole cloves
1 can (6 oz.) tomato paste; or puree
1½ cup Red burgundy wine
1½ cup Water; (see note, below)
18 ounces Small pearl onions; peeled, (see note, below)
Salt & freshly cracked pepper; to taste

Directions

Thanks to Tina Tsovras, we have an authentic Greek recipe for stefado, or stifatho. She and I worked together to modify it in time for Greek Orthodox Easter, and now I'm posting it for all of you (in time for whatever you want it for!).

Dump everything into a Dutch oven or crockpot. Cook on a very low flame until sauce is thickened, and TVP and onions are tender (about 2-2½ hours in a Dutch oven or 4 hours to overnight in crockpot). Remove bay leaf and cinnamon stick before serving. For authentic Greek meal, serve with a green salad, nonfat feta cheese (if you can find it--does it exist?), a crisp round of bread, and red Retsina wine. Or serve over rice or wide "goulash" noodles, with a green veggie or salad on the side.

Note 1: The amount of liquid depends on how "soupy" you want the end result to be. 1-½ cups of TVP will absorb a major part of 3 cups of liquid, so if you want more than a small amount of thick gravy, add extra liquid at the beginning. This recipe, as given, makes a gravy that is thick and rich but not particularly copious.

Note 2: To peel easily, place in boiling water for 3 minutes, then remove and cool under cold water. Cut off the root end and squeeze out like toothpaste. It took me about 10 minutes to peel 18 oz. of onions (3 6-oz.

bags).

This version would serve 3-4 as a main dish if there are also side dishes to distract the eaters. For a group, I'd double: 3 c. TVP, total 6 cups liquid + the quantity of gravy you want in the finished dish, 12-15 oz. of tomato sauce or puree. But I would leave the seasonings as you had them.

Three bay leaves is plenty, for example.

Posted to fatfree digest by "Ruth C. Hoffman" <ruthhoff@...> on Apr 20, 1998

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