Lamb Fricassé......Typical Greek Family Meal



Springtime is the time for baby lamb in Greece.
It is the best time of the year to eat lamb, if you like your lamb to be very light, and practically tasteless. I personally prefer older lamb similar to the one from New Zealand.
Many families in Greece love fricassé specially for a Sunday meal. Any part of the lamb can be used,  is boiled in water, lots of lettuce is added for green, and the juice is used to make an egg-lemon sauce called Avgolemono. I have already shared with you such a sauce/soup on January 20th 2011.
You will need:
-  2 kg of lamb with bone roughly cut in fist-size pieces. Coat with flour.
-  1 big onion roughly chopped.
-  5 spring onions sliced,  including the green part.
-  3 big heads of lettuce well washed leaf by leaf and each leaf cut in three.
-  1 bunch finely cut dill.
-  2 eggs
-  3 lemons.
-  1/4 cup olive oil.
-  Salt and pepper to taste.
Method: 
-  Heat oil in large pan, stir- fry all onions till they become soft.
-  Add lamb and brown on all sides.
-  Add hot water to cover half of the pan, bring to a boil, cover, lower heat to simmer till meat is tender and nearly comes off the bone.
-  Add the lettuce leaves and the dill, stir,  cover and cook at low heat till they wilt. Turn off heat. Keep on stove.
-  Ladle some juice to a bowl. let cool but not completely.
-  Beat eggs very well, and start adding the lemon very slowly. As you are adding the lemon, taste the mixture and keep adding lemon till you think it is acid enough.
-  To the above, add slowly the cooled, but still warm meat juice, mix. Add the lot all around the pan.
-  Hold the pan by its handles and mix the liquid with the egg/lemon till it is spread all around and mixed. Continue to mix carefully with a wooden spoon till all the liquid is well mixed and homogeneous.
-  Add salt and pepper to taste.
-  Put on medium heat and keep mixing.  By now the sauce will be thick due to the flour coated meat.
- Turn off heat.  Do not cover lest it curdles.
Serve immediately in soup plates.
Bon Appétit
Stelio

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