Pan Fried Veal (or Beef, pork or Chicken)

Find it on the menu as Σοφρίτο - Sofríto

So - if you like Garlic, then you’ll love a uniquely Corfu dish called Sofrito.

You can find some form of this dish all across the Mediterranean - Italy, Catalonia, Spain all have their versions. The word itself apparently meaning just cutting things up small and frying them in oil.

Corfu clearly inherited Sofrito from its Venetian heritage.

It’s so old as a recipe that any new fangled ingredients like tomatoes or peppers which come from the New World are not to be found within it. So - pre 1492 (When Columbus sailed the Ocean Blue.)

Some recipes even spurn garlic (shudder).

If you are not keen on veal - opt for pork - the kind you get in Gyro or Pita here in Corfu. Beef is also good, as is chicken.

Pre-cooked the pork cuts, and sledged them in some peppered flour with a teensy bit of cayenne, before sautéeing them in butter and little oil till browning a little. Set them aside.

Into the pan goes the Garlic - as much as you can justify. Roughly chopped. Before they brown, splash in some white wine vinegar to deglaze the pan before returning the meat. Cook until seething, and then add about a wine glass of white wine and half a jug of beef stock.

Optionally here, some recipes call for capers, a tablespoon of sugar and some lemon juice.

Certainly add chopped parsley.

Cover and simmer for an eternity - keep checking to make sure it doesn’t dry out.

The result should be a rich brown comforting sauce with soft tender meat.

In the tavernas it’ll come with chips.