When it comes to consuming pasta, it can be said that Greeks are as passionate as Italians! It is a fact that we consume a huge amount of pasta and there are many dishes in the Greek cuisine that are based on pasta, the most famous of which are two: The “pastitsio” , which we had presented some time ago and an oven dish called “Youvetsi”.
Youvetsi is an all time classic comfort food, one of those that our mothers would prepare on Sundays at least once a month. Basically, it is meat cooked in the oven with tomato sauce and pasta. It happens to be a very versatile dish since any type of meat can be used. The original recipe calls for beef but lamb, chicken or pork can be used, as well as seafood.
Keep in mind that it’s a dish that can be easily made and doesn’t need but little time for preparation.
Today we’ve got the original recipe:
Youvétsi
Yield: Serves 6
1kg beef cut into large chunks
1 large white onion
½ tsp ground allspice
1 cinnamon stick broken in half
2/3 cup esti extra virgin olive oil
400g can chopped tomatoes
1 lt hot stock (you can use either meat or vegetable stock)
400g orzo pasta
salt
pepper
Finely chop the onion.
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.
Spread the pieces of meat in a large baking pan. Add the onion, cinnamon and allspices, olive oil, stir well and bake for at least 45 minutes. Occasionally turn over the meat.
Add stock and tomatoes, salt (be modest when adding salt in case your stock is already salted) and pepper, stir and cover tightly using aluminum foil. Let it bake for at least one hour more until the meat is tender.
Stir in the orzo. Cover again and cook for a further 20 mins, stirring halfway through. The orzo should be cooked and the sauce thickened.
Serve with grated kefalotíri on top. (Kefalotíri is a Greek hard cheese. If not found it can be substituted with another kind of hard cheese)