stifado: home-style greek food fit for the gods

“I’m having fun here in Athens! Marina is like my big sister, bossy and protective at the same time. And our friend Giota is like my little sister, playful and always looking for attention. Marina’s mom Zoe cooks very traditional recipes for me, with a focus on learning things that are ‘not Turkish’ (a lot of dishes are claimed by many countries in the Mediterranean, and they’re trying to stay purely Greek). Food is regional here, but I’m getting the best of all four seasons in two-plus weeks!!

“I’m amazed by how much meat and how little fish is eaten in Athens. It’s only thirty minutes on the subway from the city centre to the port, yet people don’t consider themselves to be a seaside society, nor the fish to be ‘fresh’ (I guess the sea is relatively far when compared to the islands they holiday on).

“The food I’ve learned has been delicious! It’s a bit like my experience in Japan, where I was familiar with many types of restaurant food, but learned entirely new home-style dishes.” (p.146)

This is not a dish I’ve ever seen on a Greek restaurant’s menu, but it should be, if you ask me. I had actually written ‘delicious’ in parentheses next to the recipe in my travel notes, and as my nose lead me to the pot after recreating it, carmelized sauce bubbling around the chicken and onions, I was lucky not to have burnt more than a couple fingers and the tip of my tongue with my impatience.

The ingredients call for allspice, also known as Jamaica pepper (where it originates from). It’s a small dried berry, with a scent that recalls a number of spices (hence its name). If you can’t find it, I read that it can be replaced with equal amounts of cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. And knowing how strong those spices are, you won’t need more than a berry or two to flavour your dish.

chicken stifado

chicken quarters (dark meat, legs separated from thighs), olive oil, grated tomato, salt, pepper, water, vegetable oil, a lot of button onions or small red onions peeled and left whole,  allspice, nutmeg, garlic (I cut it in half to remove the germ, then throw it in), cloves, a bit of wine vinegar, bay leaf, cinnamon

– heat vegetable oil in a pan, fry whole onions until outsides are golden
– in a separate pot, heat olive oil, sear chicken until golden brown (the chicken I used (imported in Namibia from South Africa) had so much water and who knows what injected into it, that the oil was overwhelmed and the chicken started to boil)
– add salt, pepper, tomato, and water to half-cover chicken, bring to a simmering boil
– add carmelized onions to chicken with spices, vinegar, cook until tender
– serve with bread and enjoy!!