Spetzofai
Spetzofai (or spetzofai or spetzofai) is a traditional, spicy dish of Greek cuisine with Italian roots! It is basically fried sausages with pepper and tomato sauce. The remaining ingredients, depending on the recipe, make the difference leading to the various variations. For example, some people want it hotter, others want it to taste milder, others make it juicy and others prefer it drier. Sweet peppers and village sausages are usually used for its preparation due to their intense and very special taste. In our country, the spetzofai of Pelion is famous, but also the spetzofai with giant beans.
Recipe for Spetzofai
Materials for 4 people
- 300 gr. handmade sausages (plain or flavored, e.g. smoked paprika, garlic)
- 3 green bell peppers, quartered
- 2 red Florinis peppers, quartered
- 1 hot green pepper, cut into small pieces
- 70 ml extra virgin olive oil
- 150 gr. chopped tomatoes
-
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 20 ml white vinegar
- ⅓ c.c. bukovo hot
- 1 tbsp Bukovo sweet
- Salt Pepper
Optionally:
- 6 fresh cherry tomatoes chopped
- 40 ml tsipouro for flambéing
Manufacturing process
• Preparation of materials
Cut the stems from the peppers and remove the seeds. Cut the horn and Florin peppers into 4 pieces lengthwise. Cut the hot pepper and garlic into small pieces to distribute evenly in the food. Cut the sausages into slices.
• Sautéing bukovo and peppers
In a large pan, put the olive oil and after it is hot enough, add the hot and sweet boucovo to release their aromas. Immediately after, add all the peppers and garlic. We turn them up and down so that they begin to wilt slightly for about 10-12 minutes.
• Add the sausages
When the peppers are almost wilted, put them on the edge of the pan and add the cut sausages to brown them. After 5 minutes, turn the washers on the other side.
• Add the rest of the ingredients
10 minutes after adding the sausages, add the chopped tomatoes, cherry tomatoes if you want them, sugar, vinegar and season the mixture with salt and pepper. We mix all the ingredients in the pan and let them drink the liquid of the vegetables. The spaghetti will be ready in about 10-12 minutes from the time we have added the last ingredients. At this point we can add the tsipouro. As soon as it heats up after a few seconds, light it with a long lighter so that the alcohol evaporates and only its taste remains. Although tsipouro does not particularly affect the taste of the food, most people choose to add it.
• Serving
We leave the food for a few minutes so that its temperature drops so that we can enjoy it pleasantly. Spetzofai is served either with the pan or on a plate. According to the traditional way, it is accompanied by tsipouro (with anise or plain). It also goes well with feta which balances its spicy yet sweet taste.
* For an even hotter effect some add garlic or another hot pepper.
* One can further flavor the food with seasonings and spices (different types of pepper, paprika, oregano, etc.) and let it simmer in a tomato sauce.
Spetsofai: Origin and its wrong relationship with... Spetses
Spetzofai or spetsofai sounds like Spetses, but this is wrong. It actually comes from Pelion, where the local name for the pepper is "spenza". Consequently, the traditional food served in that region mainly during the winter months is called spentzofai because it has a lot of peppers in it. The Italian version of the name comes from "spezzatino" which means braised food. In fact, in Italian cuisine there are similar recipes with the names "spezzatino con i pepperoni" or "spezzatino di manzo con salsiccia e pepperoni" which refer to beef stew with sausages and peppers.
