Two original recipes for meat & coffee lovers
Tsiknopempti is one of the most enjoyable celebrations of all time, since it promises plenty of meat and good company. But how can coffee be a part of all of this?
Tsiknopempti is celebrated on Thursday of the week called "Meat Week (Kreatini)" and is one of the last culinary delights before the arrival of the 40 days fasting of the Great Lent. It is an ancient custom, which is related, besides religion, to the life cycle and the animals' births. In recent years, the custom has been revived and there are few who choose to celebrate it not in a shop but by organizing homemade BBQ parties. The tradition provides plenty of meat, good company, barbecues and of course tsipouro, wine or beers. As coffee lovers, how can we combine our favorite flavor with Tsiknopempti's meat?
Sure, we can close the feast with a digestive espresso or prepare a refreshing, light dessert with coffee such as a tiramisu or an espresso affogato. But we can go to our cooking one step further and prepare original coffee flavored recipes with meat!
We present two simple and easy recipes that give the meat a special flavor based on the unique aroma of coffee. Roast beef with coffee sauce is a recipe that can be found on every winter Sunday table, but it can also act as an appetizer for a Tsiknopempti - until at least the sausages, steaks and shorts come from the barbecue. On the other hand, coffee marinated steaks have a special sense of smoke that will excite and steal the show!
Roast Beef with coffee sauce
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 ½ cup of fresh mushrooms, sliced
1/3 cup fresh onions, finely chopped
2 large cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 ½ cup of filter coffee
½ teaspoon of salt
½ teaspoon of chili powder
¼ teaspoon of pepper
¼ cup corn stach
1/3 cup water
How to make it:
- In a deep pan, sauté the meat until it's brown from all sides. Remove it from the pan and put it on a plate.
- In the same oil, sauté the mushrooms, onions and garlic.
- When they appear polished, pour the spices and mix
- Add the coffee
- Add the veal again and lower the heat. Cover the pan and let it boil until the meat is tender and soft.
- Regularly check for liquid and fill water if nessecary
- Finally, add the honey, stir well and thicken the sauce with corn stach, if you need so
Coffe marinated steak
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons of ground coffee espresso
5 teaspoons of brown sugar
1 tablespoon of smoked paprika
1 ½ teaspoon oregano
1 ½ teaspoon of pepper
1 ½ teaspoon mustard powder
1 teaspoon of ginger
1 tablespoon of thick salt
1 ½ teaspoon of dried coriander
How to make it:
-Stir the spices (except salt) and coffee in a bowl until you have a mixture of spices
- Choose boneless steaks and salt them carefully.
- Drop the steaks into the mix of spices with the coffee, keeping in mind that both sides must be covered
- Leave them in the refrigerator, on a grater, for at least 3 hours (ideally for six hours)
- Remove the steaks from the refrigerator at least one and a half hours before baking them to come to room temperature.
- In a non-stick pan, heat minimum olive oil.
- Once the oil smokes, put the steaks in the pan
- Bake the steaks by turning them regularly, depending on the degree of baking they want (rare, medium rare, medium well, well)
- Pull out of the fire and let them rest, to stay juicy
At this year's Tsiknopempti table, whether we are hosts or guests who contribute to appetizers and food, we have an ace in our sleeve that will steal the impressions and will make our colleagues speak out: two unique recipes that marry imaginatively two timeless gastronomic delights: meat and coffee!
