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Foti’s Lamb Fricassée

Lamb Fricasée is the ultimate in comfort food. Melt-in-your-mouth, braised lamb; aromatic greens; and a frothy-zingy egg-lemon wash - it has so much goodness going on. Perfect to warm up your winter or when you need a little comfort and TLC in your life!

Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Greek
Keyword: Fricassée, lamb
Ingredients
  • 125 g butter
  • 3 tablespoon olive oil extra virgin (EVOO)
  • 2 medium onions
  • 1-2 cloves garlic
  • 2 kg lamb leg (with bone), cut into 8 pieces
  • 3 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoon pepper
  • 1 Small bunch parsley
  • 1 Small bunch dill
  • 1.5 litres boiled water
  • 2-3 bunches of endives
  • 3 eggs
  • 3 lemons , juiced
Instructions
Preparing the Lamb Fricassée

  1. Wash and dry the lamb pieces (optional)

  2. Melt the butter with the EVOO in a large, heavy-based pot on medium to high heat

  3. Finely chop the onions; add them to the pot and sautée them until they are translucent

  4. Add the garlic and sautée briefly

  5. Place the lamb pieces in a single layer in the pot and brown them on one side before turning them over to brown on the other side

  6. Season with salt and pepper

  7. Add the parsley and dill that has been prepared by discarding the coarse stalks at the base of the bunches (but keeping the remainder of the stalks), washing them thoroughly and chopping them finely

  8. Gently mix through the herbs

  9. Add the boiled water to the pot and gently mix the ingredients

  10. Bring the pot to a boil and then immediately reduce it to a simmer

  11. Place an unvented lid on the pot and continue to simmer for 1.5 hours

  12. Occasionally check on the pot and make sure the meat is covered by the stock. If it isn’t, add more boiled water to cover the meat

Preparing and adding the endives

  1. While the pot is simmering, sort and prepare the endives by cutting and discarding the bases of the endive bunches; removing and discarding any spoiled shoots; and washing the good shoots in a water bath three times or until the water runs clean

  2. When the lamb fricassée has been simmering for 1.5 hours, add the endives, gently pushing them in so that they are immersed in the stock

  3. Cook them for 10 minutes or until they have just softened, but still have a little body

  4. Check the endives occasionally and push them into the stock during this time

Preparing and adding the egg-lemon wash (avgolemono)

  1. While the endives are cooking in the pot, prepare the egg-lemon wash

  2. Separate the egg yolks from the whites

  3. Beat the egg whites till they form soft peaks (approximately 5 minutes)

  4. Gently fold in the egg yolks

  5. Gently mix in the lemon juice and warm stock (150ml warm stock from the pot) to create the egg-lemon wash

  6. Slowly add the egg-lemon wash into the pot of lamb fricassée and very gently mix it through, being careful not to break the lamb apart

Serving the Lamb Fricassée

  1. Ladle some lamb, endives and stock into shallow soup dishes

  2. Serve with crusty bread and enjoy!  

  3. Recipe serves 6-8

Recipe Video

Key Points
  • You can use lamb or veal shanks in place of the lamb leg pieces
  • You can use any greens you like for this dish – silverbeet, English spinach, cos lettuce or kale. It’s important not to overcook the greens and turn them into mush or disintegrated nothingness. Know your greens and how little or how much cooking they need to give a good mouth-feel and not be under or overcooked
  • If you prefer, you can add the parsley and dill when you add the greens. The herbs will add a brighter, fresher flavour to the dish if they are cooked for less time
  • It is very important for the stock to cool sufficiently before you add it to the egg-lemon wash. If it’s too hot, it will scramble the eggs when you add it