Goat stew is a traditional recipe with meat and vegetables, which often contains some type of cheese. We can use various types of meat, but it is commonly made with lamb or a mix of meats, cut into cubes. The cooking technique is a distinctive feature of this dish; the meat is seasoned and cooked in a clay pot. What is important is that you slow cook the meat in the wood-fired oven (or in your electric oven) at 160⁰C for approximately 3 hours. Since we use lots of vegetables, we add less water or no water at all. Today, we’ll share with you a special goat stew recipe, flavored with a unique spice blend. It’s by our friend George Karagiannis, who is a chef and a cookbook author. Let’s see every step of this unique recipe that our friend George gave us.
Spice blend for 2 kg (4.4 lb) of goat meat:
Your first task is to prepare your spice blend. Wherever possible, use whole spices. Firstly, place the whole spices in a mortar and grind them. Then, add the spices in powder form along with the salt. Bash them and mix well. In the end, you will get your own scented salt, a unique combination of aromas. George Karagianni’s recipes always bring the best outcome. Apart from seasoning goat meat, you can use the same spice blend for mutton spit-roast or mutton ribs.
Use boneless goat shoulder cut into small cubes approximately 5x5 cm. Place the goat meat in a large vessel and add the spices while mixing to distribute them evenly. Then, use the large holes of a box grater to grate the carrots and add the half amount of grated carrot to the vessel. Lastly, cut the gruyère cheese into small cubes and add them to the goat meat, as well.
Set aside the vessel with the meat and prepare the rest of the ingredients. Cut the tomatoes into thin slices. Refer to the video above for further detail. Cut the green peppers and the onions the same way. Gather all your ingredients and assemble the goat stew layers.
In a large clay pot, use half the amount of your sliced onions to add the first layer. Next, add two more layers using half of the green peppers (first) and half of the sliced tomatoes (on top). Then, add all the pieces of goat meat on top of your vegetables. Cover the meat with a layer of sliced onions, a layer of green peppers, and, lastly, a layer of sliced tomatoes. Add the olive oil and 100 ml of water (optional). Close the lid of the clay pot and cook in the oven.
This time we chose to cook our stew in the indirect wood-fired oven. So, before preparing your ingredients, preheat the indirect wood-fired oven. Firstly, place thin pieces of dry hardwood for kindling inside the fire chamber. Add thicker pieces of dry hardwood on top and light them up. When the oven’s temperature reaches approximately 200⁰C (392⁰F) and the fire has burnt down to embers, it’s time to place the clay pot with the stew in the oven’s cooking chamber. If you want to cook for longer than three hours, add 1-1.5 kg of big chunks of charcoal when you preheat the oven. This way, you can cook for a longer period of time and the temperature will drop more slowly, as well. Slow-cook the goat stew for approximately three hours.
When the goat stew is done, remove the clay pot from the oven and keep the lid on until the clay pot cools down a bit. Food keeps on cooking for twenty more minutes after you take it out of the oven, because of the amount of heat the clay pot has absorbed.
This goat stew -this recipe by George Karagiannis that we shared with you step by step – is truly delicious, rich in aroma and flavor. Try to cook goat stew in your electric oven, as well, at 160⁰C (320⁰F) for three hours. Don’t forget to use a clay pot, though.
Happy cooking everyone!