This Greek Goulash is a fun take on traditional goulash – with a hearty, beefy tomato sauce, orzo, and a refreshing Greek gremolata. Serve it up with some baked pita chips for a filling dinner.
I am not really familiar with Greek foods – I haven’t had much of them in my life. So when I see other blogs that cook a lot of Greek food, I am intrigued and always say I’m going to try some of it out. But to be honest – I’m a bit intimidated. And I’m not sure why, because I’m not usually intimidated in the kitchen, but cooking food from other regions is something I don’t do very often, and so it takes me a bit out of my comfort zone.
So what do you get when you combine a traditional Hungarian dish with Greek flavors? Now all you Greek purists out there probably looking at this thinking – this is not even authentic Greek food! I know it’s not, but when I saw this recipe, I thought it was a great way for me to get my feet wet. An easy weeknight meal that gives me some of the flavors of Greek food – something to help my get a little more comfortable with those Greek flavors.
And if this Greek Goulash is anything close to what Greek food tastes like, I sure have been missing out all of these years! Even my husband really loved it. In fact, I made this back in February, and just this weekend, my husband made a comment about this dish and how much he really liked it.
The base of the recipe starts off with ground lamb, but since that is an ingredient I can’t find, I used ground beef. Plenty of veggies – lots of eggplant and spinach are mixed in along with spices, tomato sauce and orzo. My favorite part had to be the Greek gremolata which you top the mixture with. Finish off with some feta cheese and the baked pita chips – this one will fill you up and leave you satisfied!
This recipe does make a TON. But it makes great leftovers. Not a bit of this went to waste! The pita chips, though, aren’t very good leftover. They become a bit stale and hard and chewy. I would recommend only making enough chips to serve, then making more as you eat the leftovers.
Greek Goulash
Ingredients
- 6 pita rounds
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/2 pound orzo pasta
- 1 1/2 pounds ground beef
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano or 2 sprigs fresh finely chopped
- 2 pinches ground cinnamon
- 1 onion chopped
- 4 cloves garlic grated
- 1 small eggplant peeled and chopped into 1/4-inch dice
- 1 box frozen spinach 10 ounces, defrosted and wrung dry in towel
- 1 15-ounce can tomato sauce
- 1/2 cup pitted chopped kalamata black olives
- 1 lemon zested
- 1/2 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
- 1 1/2 cups crumbled feta cheese
Instructions
- Heat oven to 400ºF.
- Cut each pita into 6 wedges. Place them in a single layer on a baking sheer and spray them lightly with cooking spray. Season with salt, then bake for 10 minutes, or until golden. Remove from the oven and set aside.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the orzo and cook according to the package directions. Drain and reserve.
- Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the beef and cook until browned, breaking it apart with a wooden spoon as it cooks, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, then the oregano and cinnamon. Add the onions, garlic and eggplant and cook until they start to get tender, 6 to 7 minutes. Stir in the spinach and the tomato sauce. Let the sauce simmer for 2-3 minutes, then taste and add more salt and pepper if needed.
- Chop the olives with the lemon zest and parsley, forming a Greek gremolata.
- Combine the cooked orzo with the meat sauce. Divide the mixture among bowls, then top with feta cheese and the olive gremolata. Serve the goulash with the baked pita chips.
LisaRene says
I’m intimidated by Indian food 🙂
Glad this was a successful dish your both enjoyed!
Bellini Valli says
I am so glad you are delving into Greek foods. It is my favourite after all. East Indian foods are the mystery for me, but I am venturing into the realm slowly. This goulash dish does sound like something I should try:D
Tracy says
Who cares if it’s authentic? It looks delicious to me. It definitely has lots of Greek flavors. I looove Greek food.
Patricia Scarpin says
Deb, I’m not familiar with Greek food either. Such a shame!
This would be a great way to start.
Steph says
Looks delicious Deborah! I will have to try it for sure! I love greek foood!
Pearlsofeast says
Hi Deborah, wonderful combination of ingredients.Sounds heavly!!!!!1
jasmine says
It’s a different — and tasty looking — type of fusion cooking 😉
j
Mary says
I am so going to make this. I have to sneak some ground lamb out of Michigan because I can’t get it down here either! It looks delicious!
Kevin says
That sounds tasty. There are a lot of great flavours in it!
Jenny says
I love all of the recipes you cook up. I have a zillion cookbooks and rarely cook the recipes, what’s wrong with me?!!
This one looks so tasty!
Grace says
so you’ve finally joined the ranks of greek food lovers. welcome. 🙂
Susan from Food Blogga says
I make a similar vegetarian dish with lentils as the base. Yours looks so fresh and healthy. Now, you gave me a hankering for Greek food.
Melanie says
I’m nervous just reading the recipe because I really, really want to go out of my comfort zone like you but I am scared! This looks delicious and the authentic and non-authentic Greek food I’ve had in the past has been very tasty, so I am going to make a goal to be daring and try it!
Cookie baker Lynn says
Snaps to you on stepping out of your comfort zone and trying something new! This looks like a really delicious dish.
glamah16 says
Its looking good to me. Im glad your going out of your comfort zone. I love to try things that are new and diffrent.
Sylvie says
I’ve bookmarked this to try. Authentic or not it looks great.