Ετικέτα: olive

Mediterranean Kidney and Steak Pie

View of Marathon from the hills of Kalentzi
View of Marathon from the hills of Kalentzi

Today’s dish came out of a gift.

I have always liked beef kidneys and my  good butcher brought me some as a present. Apparently no one in Greece today eats beef kidneys, so the wholesale meat merchants give them away to the butchers who ask for them.

After returning home I got down to the important task of deciding what to cook with them.

Beef kidneys
Beef kidneys

I had some chuck steak and decided to make a kidney and steak pie, emphasizing the kidney and using the steak as second fiddle.

For the first time, I decided to use olives , capers and balsamico vinegar in the filling. I also decided to marinate the kidneys in red wine, and grill the steak rather than fry it. It is in this respect that this is a mediterranean version of the recipe.

Chopped marinated beef kidneys
Chopped marinated beef kidneys

I marinated the kidneys for 24 hours  in red wine, onions, rosemary salt, crushed red chilli peppers,  capers and a bit of garlic.

After the kidneys were marinated, I seared them in a hot pan and chopped them.

I grilled the chuck stek steak and chopped it.

Chopped grilled beef chuck steak
Chopped grilled beef chuck steak

I then put the marinade in a pot, added chopped carrots, more rosemary, a bit of chopped parsley and coriander,  and brought it to a robust boil that reduced the liquid to a thick paste.

Rosemary, parsley, coriander
Rosemary, parsley, coriander

I then chopped some green olives and added them to the paste, along with balsamico vinegar, and the chopped kidneys and steak. The pie filling was now ready.

Chopped green olives
Chopped green olives

While all of this was happening, the dough for the pie’s pastry was resting.

Open kidney and steak pie
Open kidney and steak pie

I use butter for the pastry, and just a pinch of baking powder. I do not use puff pastry first of all because it is too heavy and secondly because it takes too much time to make. The butter based pastry that I prepared took no more than 15 minutes. After it was prepared, I let it rest in the fridge for one hour or so.

Kidney and steak pie, ready to bake
s  Kidney and steak pie, ready to bake

After covering the pie, I bake it for 45 minutes in 200 centigrade.

Baked kidney and steak pie
Baked kidney and steak pie

I let it rest for 15 minutes and then serve it with a nice green salad and brown home made bread.

Steak kidney and steak pie - served
Steak kidney and steak pie – served

The taste was rich, spicy and the meats juicy and full of flavor. The capers, the olives and the balsamico gave the filling the acidity that is necessary to counterbalance the richness of the kidneys’ flavor.

Enjoy the dish with a robust red, preferably the one you used in the marinade.

Veal Tartar on a bed of spinach and green onions

This is a very risky dish, as it requires excellent ingredients, especially the best quality veal. It is my own adoption of veal tartar, so that I can use Mediterranean ingredients.

Lets start with the meat. I got top quality veal steaks from my butcher and cut out the bones, membranes and fat.

 

The veal and the mezzaluna
The veal and the mezzaluna

I cut the steak in pieces with the knife, but the rest is the job of the mezzaluna. Here is the result.

 

Minced meat
Minced meat

It is very important that you cut the meat with the mezzaluna, and not using the meat grinder. The taste and tenderness of the meat are unbelievable when you use the mezzaluna, and – of course – you have top quality meat.

The next step is to dress the meat with olive oil, balsamic vinegar condiment, olives and capers. Just add a pinch of sea salt, as the olives and the capres have quite a lot!

 

Balsamic vinegar condiment
Balsamic vinegar condiment

The balsamic vinegar condiment  I buy from Amerigo, a fantastic shop near Bologna (Savigno). the entrepreneur also owns a one-Michelin star restaurant in this sleepy town.

 

The meat mix is now ready to rest
The meat mix is now ready to rest

 After thoroughly mixing the meat with all the ingredients, leave it to rest for 30 minutes.

In the meantime, prepare the spinach and the onions. I was lucky to buy baby spinach and perfect green onions.

 

Baby spinach
Baby spinach

The spinach is so tender and fresh that you only need to simmer it for 5 minutes until it becomes soft. The onions take a little longer, so I put them in the pan first, with all the trimmings that I took out of the meat, to give extra flavour.

The last step is the assembly of the dish. I start by creating a bed of the spinach and onions. Leave the spinach to cool down, else it will cook the meat that is the next layer. And we dont want to do that!

 

Bed of spinach and onions
Bed of spinach and onions

The second layer is the meat mix.

 

The second layer is now on.
The second layer is now on.

Finally, put paper thin slices of smoked cheese – Metsovone – on top, to counterbalance the acid and meaty tastes of the dish.

 

Served
Served

The dish is divine! It is impossible to understand that you are eating raw meat and it literally melts in your mouth!

 

Detail
Detail

Enjoy it!

 

 

 

 

PS. Auguri a tutti gli amici Greci, Italiani, Tedesci….