Okay, so on Potato Week I decided to center a post around heart-warming food, since potato equals comfort eating and warmth in my mind. It must go back to my childhood when my mum would have made baked potatoes for a light dinner, the house would have smelt divine and the kitchen would have become the focal point of the house…So once winter kicks in I get the craving to, most of all, recreate that atmosphere and feel once again, the warmth and comfort of a good baked potato. Of course, now I live in Northern Ireland, the country of THE potato, so I would most times choose a good Maris Piper potato for its fluffiness and taste (I cheated this time, though and used a ready half-baked one!) Actually, except for the times when I make mash (which my dad is firmly convinced is better when made with “pink” potatoes, and I believe him, as his mash is always delicious!), I prefer a Maris Piper for roasties, potato wedges and even potato salad!
Today I decided to pair my cheat potatoes with a delicious Greek casserole, called Stifado. Because I am married to a Greek man, that is. And because I wanted to celebrate both the glorious Irish potato(be it frozen this time) and the rich-in-flavour Greek cuisine in one post!
I found, once again, my inspiration for it in a book I borrowed from the local library, Stewed! Nourish Your Soul by Alan Rosenthal.
The recipe recommends marinating the beef overnight, which I did, in wine and vinegar, adding 3 cloves, one cinnamon stick, 2 garlic cloves, one teaspoon dried oregano and ground allspice.
In the morning, before I took Emma to playground, I transferred my marinated meat and its juices into the slow cooker and added (in a hurry!) one stick of celery, roughly chopped, one carrot and 16 shallots, peeled and left whole. For colour and acidity, I added half a tin of chopped tomatoes and then covered and left to simmer for a good 7 hours on slow.
Colourful dish, wish you were in my kitchen this morning to smell the spices!
Heart-warming and filling, my Irish and Greek dinner!
I hope I have inspired you with this recipe to do two things:
1. have a lovely, filling potato dish this week. It’s the season they excel in, after all!
2. try a new dish. I loved the flavours in my stifado, the cinnamon and the cloves made it taste all Christmassy and rich.
I am adding this post as an entry into the Co-operative Electrical competition.
Mama's Haven 
Reblogged this on Jenae's Good Eats! and commented:
I love potatoes! Thanks for the post!
Sounds good – I reckon my 3 yo would like this but no chance with the 1yo!
Some kids are more adventurous than others, this is lovely but full of strong flavours, so for the kids who like plain food it would be flavour overload 🙂
Sounds tasty! Love using the slow cooker too. Commenting for myself and on behalf of BritMums and thanking you for taking part
Thank you for stopping by, Kate, it is always a pleasure to take part in the competitions and challenges launched by BritMums!
oh nice! i really need a new slow cooker! i had mine for almost 7 years and it helped me through thick and thin.
thank you for joining in with the #FoodieFriday again xx shared all over the internet
Otilia, got mine last year, don’t know how I lived without one before! Thanks for sharing, it’s pumpkin pie next week from my side(do I remember right, is it sweet next week?)
Looks delicious. Thanks for linking up to #recipeoftheweek. I’ve Pinned this post, and there’s a new #recipeoftheweek linky just gone live. I’d love you to pop over and join in again with another fab recipe post 🙂
Hi, Emily, thanks you for pinning and I will be sure to add my pumpkin pie on Monday :-).xx
Lovely warming Winter dish Oana, and I bet it was extremely tasty after all that slow cooking. Thanks so much for linking up to January’s Four Seasons Food challenge 🙂
It was, the spices really gave it a wonderful flavour! Hope to remember and come back to link again in February.xx
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