Youvetsi (Greek beef or lamb and orzo stew)

Name: Youvetsi (Greek beef or lamb and orzo stew)
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 95 min
Total time: 100 min
Yield: 4 -5
Ingredients: 2 lb beef or lamb stew meat (900g, beef chuck or lamb shoulder probably best); salt and pepper; 2 tbsp olive oil (or a little more as needed); 1 onion; 3 cloves garlic; 1/2 cup red wine (120ml); 14 oz chopped tomatoes (400g, 1 can); 2 tsp tomato paste (puree); 1 tsp cinnamon; 1/2 tsp nutmeg; 1 tsp sugar; 2 cups stock; 1 1/2 cups orzo (265g); 1/2 cup kefalotyri (approx, or or parmesan/pecorino)

March 27, 2016 by Caroline's Cooking 35 Comments

Youvetsi is a delicious Greek stew made with beef or lamb and orzo cooked in a tasty tomato-based sauce. It’s flavorful, comforting and easy to make too.

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There are a few people taking part in today’s Sunday Supper who will be getting all excited about a certain movie coming out soon which has given today’s theme (Big Fat Greek Wedding 2, if you’re wondering). As someone who rarely manages to see movies these days unless I am on a flight (and so it’s then restricted by how good the range of in-flight options are and how needy the kids are being), it’s probably not surprising I am not likely to be one of the first ones to see it.

In fairness I have never been a huge movie-buff, but I’ll happily take any excuse to get excited about the Greek food it’s inspiring everyone to make.

For me it was a nice way to remember some of the tasty food we had in Athens last year (and Cyprus, which shares many similar dishes), before deciding to make this delicious youvetsi, a Greek beef or lamb stew with orzo.

In all honesty I can’t really remember whether we had youvetsi or not on our trip as we had a few meals where we had a number of smaller dishes and I can’t remember every single one – it’s very common to have food in a mezze style with a range of small plates.

Sometimes this is just cold dips like tzatziki, baba ghanoush and hummus to start, but a number of places continue this in to the warm, often meaty, dishes as well. We also had some meals we didn’t order from a menu so I didn’t get to see everything listed which is often what helps me remember what we had.

On top of that we were traveling with a toddler and a six-week old which while it largely worked out OK naturally had its challenges at times. I am sure sleep deprivation does things to your memory as well. Not to mention the fact that the amazing sites of Athens we were trying to see in a couple days can be distracting!

Anyway, whether we had youvetsi or not, it was something I was happy to find an excuse to make. Having already shared a favorite Greek dish, moussaka, I considered other dishes that were a bit better known or quicker. But then thought a slow-cooked meaty stew seemed perfect both for the Greek wedding theme and Easter.

While it takes a little time to cook, youvetsi is really easy – it’s pretty hands-off cooking. And so worth the wait.

How to make youvetsi

This may take a little time to cook but it’s hands off cooking. All you need to do is:

brown the meat;
soften the onion and garlic;
deglaze the pan with wine (basically get all the good stuff stuck to the bottom);
add tomatoes, stock and a couple seasonings;
leave it to cook the meat to tenderness;
add orzo towards end to cook in the sauce.

You can do all but the last step in advance then just reheat and add the orzo, letting it cook in the delicious sauce. Serve with a decent amount of freshly grated cheese (traditionally it would be kefalotyri but parmesan or pecorino work as an alternative).

This was a meal we all immediately loved, my toddler son even asked for more which is always a good sign. It’s got that warm, comforting feel but is not overly heavy.

The orzo takes on the delicious flavor of the sauce, a lovely mix of meatiness and tomato as well as just enough cinnamon to lift it up with a slightly warm fragrance.

Whether this description does it justice I don’t know, but believe me this is a truly delicious dish and has that flexibility of being made with either beef or lamb depending on your preference or what you have available.

Youvetsi is definitely one that we’ll be adding to our regular rotation – give it a try and you may well have a new favorite, as we did.

Looking for more Greek recipes? Try these!

Avgolemono soup
Tiropita (Greek cheese pastries)
Chicken gyros with tzatziki (aka souvlaki)
Plus get more Greek recipes as well as comfort food and more in the winter recipes archives.

Youvetsi is a delicious Greek stew made with beef or lamb and orzo cooked in a tasty tomato-based sauce. It's flavorful, comforting and easy to make too.

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5 from 3 votes