Greek Style Beef Stew

Excellent in a pressure cooker! I tried it once in a slow cooker: not as flavorful. I adapted a recipe that came with my pressure cooker. It is also known as Stifado if you use pearl onions, but I didn't have any and had to use yellow onion. I have to add potatoes and carrots! Be very careful with the amounts of salt, cinnamon and ground cloves. Works very well with moose or venison. I serve it with J.P.'s Big Daddy Biscuits (try making those with buttermilk). Yum!

• Preparation Time: 35 mins
• Cooking Time: 15 mins
• Total Time: 50 mins
• Calories: 289 Calories

Ingredients

• ½ cup water
• ⅛ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 pinch ground cloves
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
• ½ teaspoon dried rosemary
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• ½ teaspoon dried oregano
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• ¼ cup red wine
• 1 pound cubed beef stew meat
• 6 whole black peppercorns
• 1 large clove garlic, minced
• 2 carrots, peeled and sliced
• ¼ teaspoon salt to taste
• 1 onion, peeled and chopped
• ½ cup fat-free reduced-sodium beef broth
• 1 ½ teaspoons light brown sugar
• 1 (28 ounce) can whole plum tomatoes, undrained and quartered
• 2 potatoes, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces

Recipe Instructions

Step 1

Heat olive oil in a 5-quart pressure cooker over medium-high heat. Add half the beef; cook and stir until well browned on all sides. Remove beef with a slotted spoon and set aside. Brown the remaining meat and set aside.

Step 2

Place chopped onion in the pressure cooker; cook and stir for 1 minute. Add the garlic and stir for an additional minute. Pour in the red wine, red wine vinegar, and beef broth; stir in the tomato paste and mix well.

Step 3

Grind or crush rosemary, oregano, and peppercorns in a mortar and pestle or spice grinder. Add crushed spices to the cooker with bay leaves, cumin, cinnamon, cloves, black pepper, and brown sugar.

Step 4

Pour in tomatoes and their juice; rinse the can with 1/2 cup water and add the water to the cooker. Stir in potatoes and carrots. Return the browned meat to the pressure cooker. A 5-quart pot should be about half full and a little soupy; the potato will dissolve a bit and thicken it after cooking. Cover the pot and seal the lid.

Step 5

Bring the pot up to high pressure over high heat. Reduce the heat to low, maintaining full pressure, and cook for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let the pressure reduce naturally. Taste the stew and add salt, if desired.