Dreamy, juicy traditional Greek Giouvetsi (Γιουβέτσι)! Main ingredients are veal and barley (κριθαράκι – kritharaki). In Toronto, you can get kritharaki at Highland Farms.

In the recipe below I am using a Fissler Pressure Cooker, which cuts down cooking time from one hour to 20 minutes!

Ingredients

1.2 kg veal, cut in large pieces – portions
1/4 cup olive oil
1 small onion
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 carot
3-4 cloves garlic
2-3 stems parsley
150ml tomato paste
500ml strained crushed tomatoes (or fresh tomatoes in the blender)
1/2 cup dry red wine
1-2 bay leaves
4-5 peppercorns
1/2 tsp each salt and pepper
kefalotyri (“head cheese”)
500 gr barley – “kritharaki” pasta with 1/4 cup olive oil

Method

STEP 1 – Cook veal

Wash veal and pad-dry.
Cut veal in chunks – portions.
Saute veal in olive oil, 3-4 minutes each side
Add whole onion, parsley, whole carot, whole garlic cloves, 2 tbs olive oil, and stir 2-3 minutes.
Add tomato paste, mix and cook for one minute.
Stop cooking with the red wine and add the sugar.
Add the crushed tomatoes (or tomato juice).
Add 1 ltr water.
Add bay leaves and peppercorns.
Add salt and pepper and pressure-cook for 18-20 minutes. (Or slow-cook in regular pot for 1 hour or so, until meat is soft. Add salt and pepper towards the end.)

STEP 2 – Prepare kritharaki pasta

Warm up olive oil in a pan and add kritharaki pasta stirring well so all grains are oiled. This water-proofs the pasta and helps it stain grainy.
Empty the pasta into a large glass pan.

STEP 3 – Oven

Put the veal on top of the pasta.
Remove onion and carrot from the sauce.
Poor the remaining sauce over the pasta and veal. The sauce must cover the pasta. If some sauce has evaporated during cooking, replenish with with hot water until the liquid is 3cm above the pasta.
Bake with air (convection) 20-25 minutes at 320F. Stir food once, half-way during baking.