Kidonato (Veal with quince in tomato sauce)

Ingredients

• 2 pounds Veal
• 2 pounds Quince
• 1 cup Greek Olive Oil
• 4-5 medium Tomatoes finely chopped
• 2 medium Red Onions finely chopped
• 4 tbsp Brown Sugar
• 1 tsp Tomato Paste
• 2 Bay Leaves
• 1 Cinnamon Stick
• 1 tsp allspice
• 5 cups Water
• 1/2 medium Lemon juiced
• A pinch of salt and pepper
• Mint leaves to garnish

Directions

We rinse the veal, pat it dry and cut it into pieces.

In a hot pot, stir to sauté the onions, until caramelized. Pour in half of the olive oil and when hot, sauté the veal pieces, until they are evenly browned.

We add to the pot the tomatoes, the tomato paste, diluted in the water, cinnamon stick, bay leaves, allspice, and bring to a boil. Put the lid on, reduce heat to low and simmer for about 30-35 minutes, stirring regularly.

In the meantime, peel the quince, cut them in half and remove seeds. We cut them into chunks, place them into a bowl with water and add the lemon juice to avoid discoloration. Don’t forget to rinse and drain before adding them to the pot.

Five minutes before the above 30-35 minutes are over, pour the remaining olive oil in a non stick pan. Add the quince, sprinkle with the sugar and stir to sauté, until slightly tender and caramelized.

Then we pour the pan’s ingredients into the pot, add salt and pepper to taste and simmer for about 15-20 minutes, until both veal and quince are tender. We may add some more boiling water if needed.

Remove the pot from the heat and take out the cinnamon stick and bay leaf.

We serve the "kidonato" garnished with mint leaves.