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Papua New GuineaFlavors · Corfu
Rooster or veal slowly cooked in a tomato and wine sauce seasoned with cinnamon, bay leaf, nutmeg and other spices, served with thick pasta and grated cheese. It’s Corfu’s Sunday and festive dish, of Venetian heritage.
Traditional dish from Corfu, Ilhas Jônicas
Also known as: Παστιτσάδα, pastitsada kokoras, παστιτσάδα κόκορας
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Pastitsada — Corfu, Greece
Pastitsada is a meat stew served with pasta. In Corfu it’s made with rooster, the most traditional version, or with veal. The meat is browned in olive oil with onion and garlic and then slowly cooked in wine and tomato, with a spice mix called spetseriko in Corfu: cinnamon, bay leaf, nutmeg, clove and peppers. A little sugar balances the acidity of the tomato.
The sauce is reduced until thick and dark, and it’s in that sauce that the thick pasta is cooked or tossed. Grated cheese is sprinkled on top, traditionally kefalotyri, a hard salty cheese.
The name and method come from the Venetian era, when Corfu was ruled by Venice for more than four centuries. The Greeka site links the dish to the Venetian spezzatino, a meat stew of pieces. In Corfu it became Sunday and festive food, prepared slowly and served to the whole family.
Corfu , Ilhas Jônicas
Pastitsada is Corfu’s Sunday and festive dish, a legacy of the centuries when the island was ruled by Venice.
Rooster or veal, onion, garlic, olive oil, red wine, tomato, spetseriko (cinnamon, bay leaf, nutmeg, clove and peppers) and a little sugar. Thick pasta and grated kefalotyri cheese.
Hot, in a deep plate, with the pasta coated in the sauce and the meat on top, covered with grated cheese. Served with bread and red wine.
A Sunday dish, for family lunches and celebrations, especially in winter (December to February).
Your questions
A stew of rooster or veal in a tomato and wine sauce with cinnamon, bay leaf and other spices, served with thick pasta and grated cheese. It is a traditional Corfu dish.
No. Pastitsio is a baked pasta and ground meat dish with béchamel, made throughout Greece. Pastitsada is a stew of meat pieces, served with pasta, specific to Corfu.
Because it comes from the period when Corfu was governed by Venice. Sources link the dish to the Venetian spezzatino, a stew of meat pieces.
Flavors of Greece
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Grape marc brandy distilled in Crete after the harvest, without anise. It has a geographical indication as Tsikoudia of Crete, is served chilled in small glasses, and accompanies Cretan hospitality from the start to the end of a meal.
Fried patties made from chopped tomato, scallion, herbs and flour, served as a snack. They are a specialty of Santorini, made with the island’s small tomato, grown without irrigation in volcanic soil.
Sweet natural white wine from Santorini, made with Assyrtiko, Aidani and Athiri grapes dried in the sun and aged for a long time in barrel. It ranges in color from amber to dark brown and is part of the Protected Designation of Origin Santorini.
Sweet white wine from southern the Peloponnese, made from grapes sun-dried and barrel-aged. It revives the wine that merchants shipped from Monemvasia to Europe in the Middle Ages, when the port was known by its Frankish name, Malvasia.
Mykonos onion pie, filled with onion, the island’s fresh cheese tyrovolia, eggs and dill, between two layers of pastry. It is noted as one of the island’s oldest and most traditional recipes.
Sweet fortified red wine from the Patras region, made mainly from the Mavrodafni grape and aged in barrels until it develops notes of raisins, coffee and dried fruit. It has a protected designation of origin and is the dessert wine most associated with the city.
Toasted sesame and honey bar with almonds, orange peel and spices, cut into diamond shapes. It is Rhodes’ sweet offered at weddings and baptisms and has a Protected Geographical Indication from the European Union.
Pomace brandy (grape marc), with or without anise, served chilled in small bottles with snacks. It has geographical indications for Thessaly and for Tyrnavos, and in Volos it gives its name to the houses where each round arrives with a meze.
Pie made with very thin pastry, open and layered, filled with semolina custard and topped with sugar and cinnamon. It is also made savory, with cheese, ground meat or spinach. In Thessaloniki it is eaten in the morning with coffee and sold in pieces cut to order.
