Recipe for Greek lamb fricassee

Lamb Fricassee with Egg Lemon Sauce

Lamb Fricassee, or Arni Fricassee in Greek, is a very popular and tasty Greek recipe, a recipe you absolutely need to try if you haven’t already tasted it in Greece. Fricassee in Greek doesn’t have the same meaning as in other languages – or if you prefer in other cuisines.

Most of the foreigners would expect a dish with poultry stewed in gravy, but for the Greeks fricassee is a dish made mainly of lamb (although you can find alternative versions with chicken or veal), and lots of greens and herbs.

What makes a real difference though is the egg lemon sauce that comes in the end – the egg lemon sauce, avgolemono in Greek, is the detail that makes this dish stand out from other stewed dishes. Let’s get to the recipe now!

Lamb Fricassee Recipe

• 1kg lamb meat (preferably back or thigh)
• 2-3 heads of lettuce
• 5-6 scallions (if you like scallions you can add even more)
• 1 cup with dill
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• A cup with lemon juice
• 2 eggs

Preparation of the Lamb Fricassee

Cut the lamb into pieces, trying to remove the bones if possible. Add olive oil to a big pot and place it on the stove. Place the pieces of lamb in the pot and sauté them until they become brownish.

Cover them with water, lower the temperature and cover the pot with its top, allowing the food to start boiling slowly. The secret of a juicy and soft meat lies on slow cooking, so it’s better to start cooking early, because lamb needs some time to be soft and nice.

Chop the scallions and dill into small pieces and the lettuce into bigger ones and pour them to the boiling mixture after 1,5h. Add salt and pepper and let it boil for at least half an hour. If your mixture is too juicy let it cook a little more. When the food is ready, remove it from the stove and let it sit for a while. It’s time to prepare the lemon egg sauce.

Beat the egg yolks with the lemon juice for a few minutes. Add some liquid from the cooked meat and keep beating slowly. Pour the sauce into the large pot (remember to have it off the stove!) and shake the pot gently allowing the sauce to mix properly with the meat broth. Your food is ready!

You can serve it right away or you can warm it a little (wait a few minutes though, because you don’t want pieces of egg in your food!). This food tastes deliciously even the second day.