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Kouneli stifado

January 4, 2018Mama's recipes, Meat and 'kima'
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It’s amazing how as soon as the weather turns chilly our cravings for comfort food set in. A longing for salads dissipates with the first frosts of winter.  This is the weather where Sophia’s hearty rabbit stifado takes centre stage. A dish of rabbit slow cooked in a fresh tomato sauce, gently scented with warming hints of cinnamon and of course, plenty of caramelised onions.

Rabbit used to be a dish that we ate a lot of in Australia, until recent times following the myxomatosis scare. In Greece, and in Greek kitchens around the world including Australia, rabbit continues to be a popular and much loved ingredient.  Nutritionally speaking, rabbit is a great choice with less calories than white chicken meat. So it’s good for the waistline and  it’s also considerably lower in saturated fat than beef and therefore less likely to produce what we call bad cholesterol.

In Australia, I buy rabbit from my local Greek butcher, but you can also find it online – direct from the farm. In Greece, rabbit is often available at the local markets (called “laiki’).

Rabbit is sometimes criticised for being so lean it turns dry on cooking. In the hands of my mother in law Sophia, this never happens. Ma’s rabbit is wonderful, very juicy, tender and packed with flavour. After being slow cooked it simply falls off the bone.  Here’s how to make it.

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Rabbit stifado

κουνελι στιφαδo
Course Main Course
Cuisine Greek
Prep Time 3 hours
Cook Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Total Time 4 hours 30 minutes
Servings 6

Ingredients

  • 1 & 1/2 kg rabbit or hare
  • 800 g baby onions peeled and left whole
  • 1 large brown onion chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic chopped
  • 2 cups fresh tomato grated
  • 1 wine glass Greek wine vinegar
  • 1 wine glass extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 wine glass white wine
  • 1-2 sticks of cinnamon
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 2-3 allspice berries
  • 6 cloves
  • salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

  1. Wash the rabbit and put it into a basin with water and the glass of vinegar. Leave it in a cool place for 3 hours. Drain and then dry the rabbit pieces with absorbent kitchen paper.

  2. Add some olive oil to a frying pan and when hot, fry the rabbit pieces until brown. Remove from the pan and drain the rabbit pieces on absorbent kitchen paper. Using the same frypan, cook the baby onions until caramelised. Remove and place in a large casserole pot. Again using the frypan, cook the chopped onion and cloves of garlic until fragrant. Add to the casserole pot which contains the whole onions. Finally, place the drained rabbit pieces in the casserole pot.
  3. Pour the wine, oil and tomato into the casserole pot containing the rabbit pieces and onions. Season and add the other aromatics. Bring to the boil and cook for around 20 minutes. Then lower the heat, cover the pot and let the food simmer for a further hour or until the rabbit is tender. Serve hot with potato puree or simply with good country style sourdough bread.

About Kat

Welcome to Mulberry Pomegranate, a blog all about Greek food and lifestyle. I am an Australian girl who has married into a Greek-Australian family. This is my story of becoming (almost) Greek...

Previous Post: « Tsigariasta me achivades
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Welcome

Καλώς ορίσατε! When Kat met her now husband at a New Year’s Eve party, little did she know how much it would change her life – especially the culinary aspects! Kat’s mother in law was a phenomenal talent in the kitchen; creating all of the classic Greek favourites but also regional dishes from her home Island of Zakynthos. Regretting not recording the recipes of her own Grandmother’s, Kat was not going to miss the opportunity to record the recipes and stories of her mother in law Sophia. Starting out as a personal project to document her family’s recipes, Mulberry Pomegranate has become a widely read guide to the Greek Mediterranean way of life. Read more 

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Spring is in the air and the freshly caught octopu Spring is in the air and the freshly caught octopus is at its  very best! 

Here is a super easy family recipe for grilled octopus the Greek way; lightly charred and left to soak in a gentle bath of lemon, extra virgin olive oil, smoked red pepper and aromatic oregano. 

Serve simply with good hortiatiko bread to soak up all the delicious dressing, and a little ouzo, with plenty of ice on the side and a little chilled water. 

You will need:

1 octopus, cleaned 
3 medium garlic cloves
A few cloves 
1 glass of white or rose wine 
Greek extra virgin olive oil, to taste
Greek Oregano (rigani) to taste 
Smoked red pepper flakes 
Juice of 1 – 2 lemons

Instructions

Place the clean octopus in a pot, add the garlic cloves, whole cloves, wine and olive oil. Cover. Bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer for 30 minutes. 

Remove from the pot, at this point you can remove the skin if desired and then cut into pieces.

Combine the extra virgin olive oil, rigani, smoked red pepper flakes and lemon juice. You can also add a little crushed garlic. Mix well and set aside.

Heat the barbecue on medium-high, before laying down the octopus pieces on the grill. Barbecue the octopus pieces on both sides until lightly charred. 

Add the octopus pieces to a serving bowl that contains the dressing and mix well. 

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