Who says that garlic has an intense aroma?
ingredienti per 4 porzioni (costo circa 5 € ap)
- Sale
- 800 g beef round
- Olio d´ oliva EV
- 8 spicchi d'aglio
- A large bunch of parsley
- ½ litre vegetable stock
- 100 ml white wine vinegar
- 100 ml di vino bianco
- some flour
- Pepe nero
- 500 g potatoes for purée
- Una foglia di alloro
- 60 g di burro
- 120 ml full fat milk
Soffritto (means slowly fried in Italian) is the second famous meat dish from Corfu. It contains a large quantity of garlic, which although loses its pungent aroma turning to sweet, due to the wine and the vinegar.
Soffritto needs some attention and a frequent moving of the pot as the flour that contains tends to stick on the pot bottom. But don´t worry I am gonna explain you everything.
We cut the meat in slices, not too thin but not too thick. We beat them with the kitchen hammer, we season them with salt and pepper and right after we sprinkle them with flour, shaking to remove the excess. (Flour is necessary in the dish, because it will serve us in binding the sauce). For an even more tender result, we can also pre salt the slices of the meat the day before, but this is not obligatory.
In a pot with heavy bottom we lightly brown the floured slices in olive oil, a few at a time, being careful not to dry them. We keep the meat aside.
We make a mixture of half a large bunch of chopped parsley and the sliced garlic cloves.
In the same pot we put some more olive oil and we start making layers of meat, trying not to leave large gaps between the slices. Each layer must be sprinkled with the garlic-parsley mixture. Per example on the top of the first layer, we add some garlic parsley mix, we add another layer of meat and so on.
We pour the vinegar and the wine until the meat layers are completely covered. If the vinegar-wine quantity is not enough we add some stock.
We bring to boil and immediately we lower the temperature. We cook for at least an hour, semi covered with the lid, checking often that the meat does not stick at the pot bottom.
ATTENTION: When the meat starts sticking, we do NOT stir it with a spoon or fork (which will dissolve the meat) but we just shake the pot horizontally, taking care not to disform the delicate slices.
If the meat has softened enough and the sauce is still too liquid, we take it out and we reduce the sauce and on the contrary, if the meat is still tough and the sauce is too reduced, we dilute with stock or water and we continue cooking it.
10 minutes before approximate cooking end we add the rest of parsley, in order to give more aromas and more colour to the dish. We check the salt.
Meanwhile we start boiling the potatoes for the purée. You know how, I imagine. Whole unpeeled medium potatoes, cold and salty water and a bay leaf. We bring to boil, we reduce the temperature to medium and we continue till the potatoes become very very soft. We peel them, when they are still hot, we mush them with the purée accessory and we add the butter and the hot milk till having a silky cream.
We check the saltiness of the purée adding some more if required and we serve.
