Beef with lemon juice, peppers, mustard and oregano (lemonato)

Velvety and lemony beef stew with a sweet bitterness thanks to the lemon juice and mustard sauce. Green peppers go very well with this sauce and add a special touch to the whole. This is a traditional Greek dish, easy to make and inexpensive.

In two words:

“We all have enough strength to bear others pain”.

To Start...

difficulty easy
preparation-10'
cooking - 10′(pre-cooking) + 55′
serves - 2

Ingredients

  • 320gr of beef cut in big pieces proper for preparing a stew
  • 1/3 of a big onion or a small one
  • ½ of a medium size garlic glove
  • 1 green pepper (not very big)
  • 1 lemon
  • 1 level teaspoon of strong mustard (eg. Dijon)
  • 2 teaspoons of olive oil
  • 3 teaspoons of oregano
  • 500ml of hot water
  • ½ of a teaspoon of coarse salt or fleur de sel
  • 10 turn mills of Kampot black pepper

Steps

  • Peel and chisel the onion
  • Cut the garlic in very small dices or press it with a garlic press
  • Slice the pepper in vertical stripes and then cut them in three
  • Press the lemon and add to the lemon juice the mustard
  • Mix the lemon juice and the mustard with a fork as to prepare the lemony sauce
  • Heat-up a medium saucepan
  • Add the onion and stir constantly until its humidity evaporates a little bit
  • Add the olive oil and stir until it becomes a bit brown
  • Add the garlic and stir as well
  • Add the peppers and stir until they lose their crispiness
  • Add the meat and stir until they turn golden on all sides
  • Add the lemony sauce and stir with a wooden spoon
  • Add the hot water
  • Add salt, pepper and oregano and stir
  • Put the lid on and cook at medium heat for 55’. Check the water during cooking and add some if it is necessary.
  • Serve with a bit of rice and enjoy!

What’s the story behind this recipe?

This dish is a big classic in Greek cuisine. It’s called lemonato or λεμονάτο , which means the lemony one. It used to be one of my favorite dish when I was a student because it’s easy to make and delicious. Try it and you will not be disappointed.

Tip

Stews can also be prepared in a pressure cooker and are done in 30’ after the first whistle; by the way, when I started cooking, I used to use the pressure cooker a lot because meals were prepared much faster. But, traditional cooking gives a soft touch to the dish; moreover, it is said that food keeps all its nutritional values. Therefore, pressure cookers are to be used only as an emergency measure.

o-o C'est si bon ! o-o

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