075Corfiot pastitsada

Method

Corfiot beef pastitsada. Generously dust each bowl with aged kefalotyri or Corfiot graviera cheese.

You will need

• heavy Dutch oven or casserole
• large pasta pot
• colander
• wooden spoon

1. Heat half the olive oil in a wide heavy Dutch oven over high heat and brown the beef chunks in batches for 8 minutes until crusted on all sides, then remove to a bowl. 8 min Ready when: Deep mahogany browning on beef.
2. Lower heat to medium, add the remaining olive oil, and gently cook the grated onions with a pinch of salt for 12 minutes until very soft, sweet, and lightly golden. 12 min Ready when: Onions reduced to a soft melting paste.
3. Add the garlic, tomato paste, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, nutmeg, and black pepper, stirring continuously for 2 minutes to roast the spices. 2 min Ready when: Intensely aromatic spice aroma released.
4. Pour in the red wine and wine vinegar, using a wooden spoon to deglaze the bottom of the pot, and simmer for 4 minutes until the sharp fumes soften. 4 min Ready when: Liquid reduced slightly and well combined.
5. Return the beef and resting juices to the pot, then add the crushed tomatoes, bay leaves, sugar, and 200 ml of water. 2 min Ready when: Liquid covers the meat almost completely.
6. Bring to a gentle boil, clamp on a tight lid, reduce heat to the lowest setting, and simmer for 90 to 105 minutes until the beef is meltingly tender. 100 min Ready when: Beef yields effortlessly under a fork.
7. Uncover and simmer gently for 10 minutes if needed until the sauce is dense, velvety, and rust-red. 10 min Ready when: Thick sauce clings heavily to the meat.
8. Cook the thick hollow macaroni in a large pot of salted water until al dente, drain, toss immediately with a ladle of the pastitsada sauce, and serve topped with the beef and more sauce. 10 min Ready when: Pasta glistening and completely coated.

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Make ahead and storing

The stew tastes even better made a day ahead; reheat gently before boiling fresh pasta.

Keep the beef stew refrigerated for up to 4 days; do not store tossed with pasta.

Substitutions

• free-range rooster or cockerel for beef braising steak (shin or chuck), cut into large chunks. Rooster pastitsada is equally revered in Corfu and follows identical spicing.

Common mistakes

• Rushing the onions. The substantial amount of onions must melt slowly into a puree, which forms the body and sweet balance of the sauce.
• Using pre-ground, stale spices in small pinches. Pastitsada requires a assertive, warm Corfiot spetsieriko character; timid spicing leaves it tasting like generic stew.

Regional variants

• Corfiot rooster pastitsada (kokoras pastitsada)
• Spetsieriko blend enriched with cumin and paprika

About the dish

Pastitsada is the undisputed culinary banner of Corfu, reflecting centuries of Venetian rule over the Ionian Islands. Derived from the Venetian 'pastissada', it evolved locally into a magnificent stew of beef shank, chuck, or farm cockerel simmered with vast mounds of sweet onions, wine, vinegar, and the island's signature spice blend known as spetsieriko (featuring cinnamon, cloves, allspice, and nutmeg). The deeply aromatic, thick sauce is traditionally served tangled with thick hollow bucatini pasta.

Found in Ionian Islands. Cooked for sunday lunch, wedding, panigiri feast.

Cousins elsewhere

• Pastissada de caval (Italian). Derived from the Venetian braised horsemeat dish, adapted in Corfu to beef or cockerel with aromatic sweet spices.
• Spezzatino alla veneziana (Italian). Shares the slow wine and onion reduction technique typical of historic Venetian cookery.

Nutrition per serving (estimate)

803 kcal · protein 57.4 g · fat 25.5 g (saturated 6.6 g) · carbohydrate 78 g (sugars 10 g) · fibre 5.8 g · sodium 231 mg

An estimate (summed from ingredient estimates) that varies with the exact ingredients. It is not dietary advice.

Written fresh by Epikouria editors from general culinary tradition. Recipe by the Epikouria editors. Pure Corfiot urban cuisine, preserving the Venetian legacy of warm spices, wine reductions, and hollow macaroni..