Stew with Saffron
A Greek stew/soup traditionally made for Christmas as the first spiced food after fasting, but also throughout the year, especially on cold days; comforting for the stomach, and very very tasty. The recipe was given to me by Mrs. Maria Kalyva a producer of saffron. My intervention was reducing the oil and adding the saffron. This dish seems simplistic, but in my opinion, is classically simple. It can be made with hogget, veal, old goat or lamb.
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EmailIngredients:
1 kg veal meat
1 small cup oil
1 cup celery, finely chopped
40 saffron strings (approximately)
1 ½ tablespoon flour
2 tbsp oil
2-3 eggs
juice from 3 lemons
salt
Procedure:
- Cut the meat into servings (around five), and wash it.
- Chop your celery into medium sized pieces
1. Put the meat to boil in a saucepan with plenty of water. Skim well. If the froth dissolves before you can remove it, strain it and transfer to another pot.
2. When the meat is cooked, add the oil, saffron and celery and let it boil for about ten minutes.
3. Meanwhile, in a small pan warm up the oil, add the flour and, stirr continuously. Cook until brown.
4. Add some of the boiling broth into the flour and beat it well so that it doesn’t have lumps.
5. Add the thinned cooked flour into the saucepan with the meat and let it boil until the broth thickens slightly.
*At this stage the food’s liquid must be about 1200-1300 ml, i.e. about 6 cups.
6. Beat the eggs well until they become fluffy and add the lemon.
7. Add broth to the egg – lemon mixture (also known as avgolemono), while stirring continuously, until it becomes very hot.
8. Then put it all into the saucepan, take it off the heat and stir. Do not cover the food, as the egg and lemon mixture will turn sour.
9. Serve the meat and the broth in the plates and sprinkle with freshly grated pepper.
