Recipe: Perfect Giouvetsi

Giouvetsi. Giouvetsi, or youvetsi is a centuries old dish that was traditionally served as a one-pot meal and in the old days it would have been baked in a home's wood burning oven. There were also many instances where a home did not have an oven but each village had at least one bakery supplying bread for the guaranteed demand of the villagers. Well, Greek γιουβετσι (it is also spelled youvetsi or yiouvetsi) is a delicious classic Greek dish.

Giouvetsi Giouvetsi is one of those dishes that once you get to know you'll want to make over and over again. Giouvetsi is a delicious and easy baked Greek pasta dish made with chicken, lamb or beef, orzo and tomato sauce. Also called Youvetsi, Giouvesti is one of those recipes that calls for about twenty minutes of active prep - searing meat, sautéing chopped vegetables, and toasting the orzo. You can cook Giouvetsi using 15 ingredients and 4 steps. Here is how you cook that.

Ingredients of Giouvetsi

  1. It's 500 g of diced beef.
  2. It's 1 of medium onion, finely chopped.
  3. Prepare 2 tsp of garlic paste.
  4. It's 2 of carrots sliced.
  5. It's 500 g of passatta.
  6. Prepare 250 ml of water (more if required).
  7. You need 1 tbsp of tomato puree.
  8. Prepare 1 glass of red wine (Alcohol Free optional).
  9. It's 1 of cinnamon stick.
  10. Prepare 1 tsp of Dried marjoram.
  11. It's 1 tsp of Dried rosemary.
  12. You need 5-6 of whole cloves.
  13. Prepare 2 tbs of olive oil (Greek if Possible).
  14. It's 200 g of orzo pasta.
  15. You need of Fresh Basil.

Giouvetsi is an old Greek recipe that Greeks used to do in the oven. As years went there were some small changes in the recipe but the essentials remained the same….and the taste of course. Giouvetsi is one of Greece's most traditional and loved dishes that is enjoyed by all the family. It's an oven-baked meal, featuring kritharaki (orzo) and meat (veal, beef, chicken or lamb can be used) cooked in a homemade tomato sauce.

Giouvetsi instructions

  1. Mix the beef with seasoned flour. Heat a pan with olive oil and brown off the beef, add the onions, garlic paste, carrots, Dried herbs, whole cloves, tomato purée and cinnamon stick and gently fry until the onions soften..
  2. Add the wine and cook until the wine has reduced right down to nothing. Add the passata and water, bring to the boil, cover and simmer, checking regularly for an hour and half. If the sauce starts to become dry just add a drop more water..
  3. Heat a small sauté pan, add some olive oil and gently fry the orzo pasta until slightly brown. After an hour and half tip the orzo pasta into the stew and cook slowly for another 45 mins. Serve in a warmed bowl and stir in some fresh basil..
  4. TIP : The longer you can slow cook the stew the better, I continued to cook for a further three hours making sure you check regularly..

Here is an easy to follow recipe that you are sure to love! Lamb Giouvetsi (Greek Lamb stew with orzo pasta) is a centuries old dish that was traditionally served as a one-pot meal and in the old days it would have been baked in a home's wood burning oven. Giouvetsi is one of the most popular Greek traditional dishes. It's an oven-baked dish, made with pasta and meat (beef, chicken or lamb), usually baked in a ceramic or pyrex baking dish. The most commonly used pasta for this type of recipe is orzo (called kritharaki in Greek).