This is the second installment in my Instant Pot lamb series. In the first installment, I made a rich and warming lamb curry with coconut milk and yogurt. Today, I travel west toward Europe and take my inspiration from Greek cuisine.
Avgolémono (αυγολέμονο) is a sauce made from whisking together eggs, lemon juice and warm broth. In fact, the word is a compound of the word αυγό (avgó), meaning egg, and the word λεμόνι (lemóni), meaning lemon. The sauce is not unique to Greek cuisines, but is found in cuisines around the Mediterranean. It can be used a sauce for dolma, meats or vegetables, or added to soups and stews as a thickener.
For this stew, I braised lamb shanks with cabbage, dill and a touch of allspice. I added artichoke hearts, tomatoes and black kale towards the end of the cooking process to add substance and flavour. I rarely use artichoke hearts in my cooking, but found that they paired beautifully with the dill, lamb and avgolémono. The anchovy paste added another depth of flavour and a touch of umami.
I loved this stew and can’t wait to make it again! It is a great recipe for the dropping temperatures, and could easily be made in larger quantities to fill the bellies of a gathering of friends or family.
I used lamb shanks for this recipe because that’s what was available at my local butcher’s today, but you can substitute other tough cuts of lamb (shoulder, leg, pre-cut stewing meat) if you prefer.
Joëlle
Serves 2-3
A comforting Greek-inspired lamb stew with tomatoes, artichoke and dill, thickened with a delicious egg and lemon sauce.
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Ingredients
- 3 Lamb shanks
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp tallow or other cooking fat
- 3 shallots, minced
- 4 garlic cloves
- 1 leek, sliced thinly
- 1/2 small savoy cabbage, coarsely chopped
- 1 small bunch dill, chopped
- 1/2 tsp allspice
- 2-3 cups of broth or water
- 1 tbsp anchovy paste
- 2 roma tomatoes, diced
- 1 can artichoke hearts in water, drained and diced
- 1 bunch black kale
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup yogurt
Instructions
- Sprinkle salt on all sides of your lamb shanks.
- Set your Instant Pot to Saute mode. When hot, add a tablespoon of tallow and sear your lamb shanks, about 5 minutes on each side. Do this in batches if you can't fit all of your shanks onto the bottom of the liner at once. Place the seared shanks on a large plate.
- With the Instant Pot still on Saute mode, add shallots, cook for 2-3 minutes, then add garlic, leeks, cabbage, allspice and most of the dill (keep some as garnish) and cook, stirring occasionally, until the cabbage is starts to soften.
- Put the lamb shanks back into the liner, and add enough broth or water to cover the shanks.
- Press Cancel on the Instant Pot to turn it off, and screw on the lid. Making sure the Steam Release Handle is turned to the Sealing position, set the Pressure Cook program to cook for 40 minutes on high pressure.
- Let the Instant Pot do a natural release, and take the lid off.
- Mix in the artichokes, tomatoes and anchovy paste and turn the Instant Pot back to Saute mode to reduce the sauce.
- While the sauce is reducing, prepare the kale and avgolemono sauce. First, separate the kale leaves from the tough stems and tear the leaves into bite-size pieces. Then, lightly beat eggs and lemon juice in a small bowl.
- Stir the kale leaves into the pot and cook for five minutes, then press Cancel on the Instant Pot and remove the liner from the pot. Stir in the avgolemono sauce.
- Garnish with a sprinkle of chopped dill leaves and serve with plain Greek yogurt.
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