Beef and Orzo Casserole (Giouvetsi)

Posted on November 20, 2017

This delicious traditional one pot casserole is usually made for Sunday lunch or dinner family gatherings. 🙂  Sounds Italian, the gathering of the families…hehehe but it’s true..:) This amazing dish is my favorite, I love how all the ingredients combine beautifully, and the taste ahhh is just divine. 

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BEEF AND ORZO CASSEROLE (GIOUVETSI)

Ingredients

  • 1 Kilo Beef
  • 500 grams Orzo pasta
  • 3 tablespoons of cooking butter or 1/2 cup of Olive Oil
  • 2 medium Onions
  • 1 Garlic clove optional
  • 1 Bay leaf
  • 1 Cinnamon stick
  • 2 tablespoons Tomato Paste
  • 1 teaspoon Oregano
  • 3 fresh Tomatoes grated
  • 1/4 cup of White Wine Dry
  • Salt and Pepper
  • Kefalotyri or Parmesan Cheese for topping

Instructions

  1. The first thing I always do before I start making this recipe is I always boil the meat for about 1/2 hour. This little step just helps the meat to become a bit more tender than just adding straight into the pot to sauté with the onions. Some like to substitute Leek instead of Onions. Even though I enjoy leek in most of my recipes in this dish I use onions.
  2. In a large pot add in the cooking butter or the olive oil..which ever you prefer and sauté the onions…place the meat into the pot and sauté for about 10 minutes.
  3. Add in the fresh grated fresh tomatoes, the cinnamon stick, tomato paste, bay leaf and stir.
  4. Pour wine, oregano and 2 cups of water.
  5. Add in the Orzo and stir…let this simmer for 1/2 hour.
  6. For casseroles I use ceramic baking dish. The food tastes as if its been baked the old fashion way 🙂 in an old stove with wood burner :).. Remove cinnamon stick and bay leaf, pour the casserole into the baking pan and add 2 cups of water, stir cover with lid or aluminum foil.
  7. Bake at 180 degrees for 30 minutes. Sprinkle some Kefalotyri or Parmesan Cheese and enjoy.
By foodzesty

Sophie Zographos

Welcome to a small corner of my Greek Heritage. Growing up in New York from Greek parents, was a challenge of its own...but the traditional food, tastes and aromas that my mother cooked always travelled me back to Greece. My mother is a wonderful cook, our house would always have that smell of home cooked food. I remember very clearly that we were only allowed fast food, once a week, that was a huge day for myself and my brother. Jumping up and down in the back car seat, laughing, just being kids. It is true that we all like to eat different foods, taste, smell, even try food that looks different than our regular meals at home and I think that is so natural. In my teens, I was not really into cooking, I enjoyed my magazines after school, listening to music, and just taking a breather. There were times that I would glance at some of my mom's recipes, more out of curiosity than to actually try to cook them. At that time I did not realise that cooking would become my passion one day. Slowly, I would start to look into my mom's recipes a bit more each day and I started to find it interesting as a hobby. Each month I would go into our neighborhood bookstore and pick up my monthly book, until one day I decided to stroll over into the cooking section. That summer was the first time I actually bought a cooking magazine....and I loved it. Cooking and baking started out as a hobby, but now after many years it is my passion. Exploring the cuisines, the spices, the oils, the scents, the variety of smells and tastes that exist. It was and still is an amazing journey without limits. So, come along with me on this adventure, and I hope you enjoy my recipes. Sophie

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