It’s time to travel to other parts of Greece, both in a geographical and culinary sense. This year’s travels first took me south to Athens. The busiest route in Greece for traffic, trade & transport is between Thessaloniki and Athens. These two largest cities of Greece account for 2/3 of Greece’s population.
Frequent plane service, buses, taxis, automobile and trains are all possible ways one can travel between these two cities. Greece finally has a modern train service and barring any strikes, the schedule is punctual and for the most part reliable.
For the past couple of years, I’ve enjoyed taking the train (OSE) between Thessaloniki and Athens. If I take the Intercity Express, travel between the two cities is just over 4 hours.
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I hop on the train, just before sunrise and in no time, the blazing Greek sun rises, burning off the morning mist and she welcomes this ancient world with her familiar grin that says, “you want heat – you got heat”.
As I travel by train, I know that I’ve left familiar territory and enter new lands. The sea quickly vanishes as the train travels further inland. I’m in the province of Thessaly, Greece’s great plain.
Thessaly is a province that sits between Macedonia (to the North) and Attika (Athens) to the South. It’s capital is Larissa and the province is known for it’s Feta, Kasseri, Graviera and Katiki Domikou (a kind of cream cheese).
The province of Thessaly is also known for it’s abundance and array of “pitas” or pies. Whole cookbooks have been dedicated to different pitas with their flour and corn crusts and with every imaginable filling one can think of.
However, the one characteristic that sets Thessaly apart from the rest of Greece is their fondness for beef. Thessaly has a large and flat plain and this terrain is good for supporting cattle ranching.
Nearby by Larissa (16 km NW ) sits the town of Tirnavos. Tirnavos is known for it’s Carnival, wine production, the famous Tsipouro of Tirnavos and the subject of today’s dish, cattle. 
Today’s dish is Kelaidi, a simple dish that’s slow roasted in the oven. One simply needs a flavourful cut of beef, stack it with onions, tomato and green pepper and when just finished, add some of the local Kefalotyri cheese to just melt and drape over the ingredients.
Most Greeks like their meats “well done” and a dish like Kelaidi will satisfy any beef lover. Here’s your chance to use those tougher but flavourful cuts of beef. Portion-sized pieces of beef gets slow roasted in the oven…up to two hours!
The traditional recipe uses “spala” or brisket, which is a tougher cut but when slow-roasted, this very flavourful piece of meat renders down to almost fork-tender. For presentation purposes, a round, thick portion of beef would make for a good-sized serving and present a prettier dish, with the beef and vegetables stacked on top.
The vegetables baste the meat through the cooking process, leaving you with some delicious juices to serve with the meal.
Kelaidi is the perfect dish for a lazy Sunday afternoon. Sear your meat, stack them with the vegetables and place in a deep baking dish covered and let the oven slowly works it’s magic.
Remove the cover (aluminum foil) during the last ten minutes and then add your cheese at the very end, just enough to melt over your almost effortless yet delicious Sunday meal.
Kelaidi (Κελαηδί)
(serves 4)
4 portions of rib-eye steaks (veal, sirloin tip or chuck beef all would work well)
4 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
1/2 inch slices of onions
1/2 slices of firm but ripe tomatoes
1/2 slices of green bell peppers
thin slices of Kefalotyri cheese (or another briny sheep’s milk cheese)
olive oil
coarse sea salt and fresh ground pepper
Pre-heated 325F oven
- Pre-heat your oven. Rinse and pat-dry your beef. Brush with olive oil and season with coarse salt and fresh ground pepper.
- In a heavy skillet, add some olive oil over medium high heat and sear both sides of the meat. You want a deep-brown colour (colour equals flavour).
- Place your thin slices of garlic on top of each portion, followed by a slice of onion, the tomato and lastly, the green bell pepper. Drizzle with a little olive oil and season with some salt and pepper.
- Place your portions in a deep baking vessel with a cover that will not touch the meat and vegetable stacks (over cover with aluminum foil).
- Place in your baking vessel in your pre-heated oven (middle rack) and set it and forget it. Leave the meat alone for about 90 minutes.
- After 90 minutes, remove the cover and place back in the oven for another 15-20 minutes or until some good colour has been produced.
- Place some thin slices of Kefalotyri on top of each stack and place back in the oven until just melted.
- Serve with my mashed potatoes with roasted garlic, sun-dried tomatoes and Feta cheese.
- Serve with a Tsantali Reserve Rapsani 2004
If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at https://kalofagas.ca then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at truenorth67 AT gmail DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author.
© 2007-2009 Peter Minakis
38 Responses
ooh…looks so drooling. Will try it for my hub but not me since I don’t like goat or sheep cheese.
Oh this is one that has to be tried!
I can’t wait to try this one. do you think it would work in my slow cooker?
Peter, never heard of that name (kelaidi), but it looks super!!
I’ll try it:))
I’d love to take the train in Greece…
That dish looks so good! what a gorgeous combination of flavors and ingredients!
Cheers,
Rosa
It looks beautiful and a realy comforting dish.
I think if you want to really enjoy a country you should travel by train and which i think is a wonderful expirence.
Peter you should go once to India and take a train there, you will never go hungry in that trip as every stop there is super delicous station food, like samosa,bahaji etc….
I love this method of cooking meat….you are guaranteed fall-of-the-bone meat every time!!!
i do love a layered dish. it looks pretty, first of all, and it just seems to fill one’s mouth with an interesting array of flavors. scrumptious recipe, peter!
its the corn crust pita that has my attention, interesting.
That is a mighty stack of food you have there! Lots of flavors and textures going on, nice!
This looks especially amazing served over those mashed potatoes!
I love the layers and flavors in this. It’s so pretty.
I have been remiss in blog reading this past week due to business travel and computer issues, so I’ve missed so many posts and more of your travels in Greece. I’m busy catching up. I was interested in reading about the plains. I don’t usually associate Greece with beef and it’s interesting to imagine Greek cattle ranches.
Mmmmm… so good, so good ♫ It would make James Brown raise from the ground!!!
And it makes me wanna fly to Canada right now! So good, so good… even with some cheese on ♫
This looks amazing – I love everything you’ve put in.
The layers look really good to – Yum on a plate!
That photo is so enticing. You could make a shoelace look appetizing.
Delicious. I never had one, but I will look out for it from now on.
That looks delicious!! Especially on top of that mash!
The plains of Thessaly are quite beautiful with the mountains as a backdrop. This is where my favourite place is Meteora..and I do rememeber the meats roasted in clay pots. Love the mashed potato combination here as well Peter.
A tower of deliciousness.
Peter this is a great dish and beautiful too. I love the whole idea of a meal in one- less dishes that way!
I’m gonna have to try the train out next time I’m in Athina and head up north to the leufko kastro. Although I’m not much of a meat eater, this is making me drool.
Kelaidi is an ultra delicioso dish!
BTW, four weeks ago, it took me 7 hours to get to Volos from Athens by train!!
Your food always looks so good! I have on question: what is a good substitute for Kefalotyri cheese? I live in Dubai and we have arabic cheeses and halloum, etc but not greek, unfortunately. thanks!
Dala, any firm sheep’s milk white cheese…something a little briny, like a Romano Peccorino, or the Halloumi would work.
I love slow roasted beef Peter and this one is a sure winner. Plus, it needs no “pampering” and one can prepare other things for guests in between. I love you photo, it makes the dish look so delicious!
I love it well done, & love the idea of the juices dribbling down in the slow roasting process.That first close up is gorgeous Petah!
Gee, that looks so tasty. Love all the colors. And slow roasting too.
LL
Looks outstanding! I love the layered presentation, and delicious with Kefalotyri cheese!
I’ve never traveled by train in Greece before. Nice presentation of this classic Thessalian dish.
Stomach. Growling. Oh my goodness, this looks amazing. Love the way you’ve plated it and the simple flavors just sound divine here.
Love those slow-roasting dishes Peter. Your potatoes are to-die for.
This looks outstanding!!
YUM~~
ΠητεÏ, δεν εχω ξανακοÏσει ποτΠτην ονομασία του (κελαιδι?) θα Ï€Ïεπει όμως να είναι νοστιμότατο !!!!
καλή σου μÎÏα !!!
ολα καλά ??
φιλιά πολλα
although I was born and live in Tirnavos -larisa Greece I never heard about kelaidi . this looks yummy. have a nice a nice day, and ….
kisses from tirnavos.
Hey Peter, this is a yummy dish. Every time I see your Greek dishes, I wish the Greek restos in Germany can serve something more special like yours : )
This dish looks absolutely amazing, Peter, especially with the mashed potatoes. How comforting!
This is a lovely presentation, and would be really fun to serve at a dinner party.
is that society garlic on top?