Giouvetsi is a Greek dish made with meat, tomato sauce, and pasta, traditionally baked in clay pots. It can be made with various meats and pasta types, and is cooked in two stages for tender meat and infused flavors. Kritharaki is the traditional pasta, but substitutes like orzo or risoni can be used.
Giouvetsi is an ancient Greek dish made from beef, lamb or chicken cooked in a tomato sauce with pasta and other ingredients. There are multiple spellings for the word, including yiouvetsi, youvetsi, yuvetsi, and others; and a cook who is looking for recipes should look under these alternative names as well as giouvetsi. True Greek interpretations of the dish use a barley-type pasta called kritharaki, and orzo, risoni or hilopites can be substituted if Greek pasta is not available. Typically, the dish has very few ingredients other than pasta, a protein, and a liquid, such as tomato juice or wine; often, cooks add the cheese just before serving the dish.
Traditionally, he bakes giouvetsi in clay pots. Modern cooks use a variety of cookware, from crock pots to pressure cookers. Most recipes advise the cook to prepare the dish in two stages. The cook sears large cubes of meat on the stove or grill and then uses a low-temperature oven to cook them for hours in tomatoes and some liquid. When the meat is very tender, the cook adds the pasta and continues cooking it until the pasta is tender and the flavors have infused throughout the dish.
Typically, cooks use whatever meat is on hand, such as lamb, beef, veal, or chicken. The cook cooks the meat in a liquid, which is often broth, water and wine, as well as the tomatoes in their own juices. The recipe is good for tenderizing meat that is difficult due to the low temperature of the oven and the acidity of the tomatoes. Typically, the cook cuts the meat into large cubes.
When using poultry, such as chicken or turkey, the cook does not dice the meat but rather cooks the cuts of the poultry. Depending on the desired effect, a person can cut a whole chicken in halves, quarters, or individual pieces, or they can use large chunks of boneless chicken breast. A cook must be careful not to overcook the chicken in the first stage, because the meat continues to cook while the pasta is cooking.
Traditional Greek cooks use a paste called kritharakia or kritharaki in giouvetsi. Many cooks substitute rice-shaped barley, paddy rice or flat-dough rices or hilopites when kritharaki is not available. Kiritharakia is made from barley flour, but many people substitute wheat pasta for barley pasta. Most of the barley sold in modern times is made with semolina, which is flour made from durum wheat. Risoni or rice is a smaller version of barley and needs less cooking time.
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