I’m hoping someone here has heard of this, because I’m beginning to think my dad’s gone a little crackers. During his stint in the Navy, Dad spent some time in Greece and had a dish he’s never seen since – beef and peas. I guess that was it, too – just beef and peas. The beef was not ground, but chopped up, and the peas weren’t mashed or anything, just in there. No tomatoes or potatoes (which are included in most of the recipes I’ve been able to turn up). Has anyone ever had this or seen it on the menu at a Greek restaurant? Even if I can’t find a recipe I can try to duplicate it as best I can.
Lamb is more common in Greek cooking than beef is. If you could get your father to better describe how the dish tasted, it might help. Any idea of what seasonings might have been used?
We certainly prefer lamb over beef… I myself have never seen a recipe which calls for beef (or lamb) and peas alone, although I’ve seen the recipe Zenster is giving (it includes tomatoes, of course).
Generally greek cooking tends to combine meat with everything. You want spaghetti with you meat? Fine. You want potatoes with your meat? There you go. Peas? No prob.
Nowadays this practice is starting to wear off, although there are a lot of traditional taverns where you’ll get exactly what your heart (or your stomach) desires.