AI-generated image
Spetzofai
Spetzofaï: Pelion country sausages stewed with peppers, tomato and paprika
Spetzofai is the dish shepherds in the Pelion mountains near Volos cooked over the fire: spicy village pork sausages sliced and stewed with long green and red peppers in a thick tomato sauce. Now it's on every tsipouro-bar menu in Volos, served sizzling in a clay dish with bread and feta. Use coarse pork sausages with leek or orange peel if you can find them. Common mistake: cooking the peppers to mush — they should be soft but still hold their shape. Chef's tip: brown the sausage slices hard first; the fat they leave flavours the peppers.
- Total time
- 55 min
- Difficulty
- easy
- Serves
- 4
Ingredients
Shop this recipe on Amazon
Fresh ingredients (4)
Links open Amazon in a new tab. As an Amazon Associate, WhatToEat.Today earns from qualifying purchases.
Method
0/5 doneStep 1: Heat 4 tbsp olive oil in a wide pan over a medium-high heat and brown 1 ⅓ lb coarse pork sausages on both sides until well coloured. Lift out, leaving the fat.
8 minStep 2: Add 1 onion, 4 long green peppers and 2 red peppers and cook over a medium heat, stirring, until softened and lightly blistered.
10 minStep 3: Stir in 3 cloves garlic and 1 tsp smoked or hot paprika for 30 seconds, then add 14 oz chopped tomatoes, 1 tsp dried oregano and ½ tsp salt.
1 minStep 4: Return the sausages, cover partly and simmer until the sauce is thick and the sausages are cooked through, reaching 160°F in the centre with no pink.
20 minStep 5: Serve hot from the pan with bread and feta.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 520 kcal
- Protein
- 22 g
- Carbs
- 15 g
- Fat
- 42 g
- Fibre
- 4 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does spetzofai take?
- About 55 minutes in total: 15 minutes to prepare and 40 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 4 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it gluten free?
- Yes, as written. Check the labels on stock, sauces and spice mixes, which sometimes contain gluten.
- Is it very spicy?
- It has some heat. Use less chilli for a milder version, or more if you like it hot.
- What can I use instead of onion?
- 2 shallots per onion.
- What can I use instead of red peppers?
- Any colour of bell pepper, same amount.
Reviews
No reviews yet. Be the first to cook it.
Rate this recipe
Sign in to rate and review this recipe.
You might also like
Greek village salad
A true Greek salad has no lettuce: just ripe tomatoes, crunchy cucumber, sharp onion and olives, dressed with good olive oil and dried oregano, with a whole slab of feta on top. Salt the tomatoes first and they'll make their own dressing.
Pork souvlaki
This is a pork recipe. Walk through any Greek town after dark, from Athens to Thessaloniki, and the smell of souvlaki stands drifts down the street; cubes of pork shoulder grilled on thin skewers are the country's favourite cheap supper, eaten standing up or at a plastic-table taverna. At home you marinate the meat in lemon, olive oil, garlic and dried oregano, grill it hard and fast, and pile it on warm pitta with tzatziki, tomato and red onion. Chef's tip: cut the pork into even 2.5 cm cubes and leave a little fat on; lean loin dries out, shoulder stays juicy over high heat.
Tteokgalbi
Tteokgalbi is rib meat chopped finely, pressed back into neat slabs and grilled, so it's soft enough to eat without struggling with a bone. Two places in South Jeolla claim it: Damyang, the bamboo county, where all-beef patties come with rice steamed in bamboo tubes, and Gwangju's Songjeong district, whose restaurant street near the railway station mixes beef with pork. This home version uses minced beef and pork, seasoned with soy, garlic and pear, then brushed with a soy and honey glaze as it cooks. Serve with rice, lettuce and a few banchan; leftovers are good cold in a lunchbox. Chef's tip: slap the mince against the bowl for a few minutes; it turns sticky and the patties hold together on the grill without any breadcrumbs.




