Growing up Greek…

I always thought that a Fricassee was a dish of Greek origins.

Low and behold I’ve been wrong all my life!

It has been cooked…

In many a Greek kitchen for hundreds of years…

But my research shows,

That Fricassee was first recorded in cook books in 14th Century France…

With the earliest records of it appearing in the medieval French cookbook,

Le Viandier, circa 1300…

Or so Wikipedia tells me!

From the couture original,

Featuring veal and enjoyed by Parisian aristocracy…

To the more humble version using chicken,

Introduced to the Caribbean by Spanish settlers in the early 1500s…

All the way to my take on the Greek classic,

Honouring pork…

Some things remain a constant in every Fricassee.

The protein…

Whether it’s pork, veal, lamb, chicken or even seafood…

The protein is braised first…

Onions and other vegetables are added…

And it is served in its own…

Usually white sauce…

With enough liquid that,

In the words of Julia Child…

In her classic book,

The Art of French Cooking…

“it (a fricassee) sits somewhere between a sauté and a stew”.

In that a sauté has no liquid at all…

A stew has liquid from the beginning,

Whilst a fricassee has some added after the meat and other goodies are braised.

No caramelisation either…

Although there is a gentle braising to begin.

The Greek version often uses lamb or pork…

And the vegetable is almost always onion…

And either celery or lettuce is the greens.

I’ve opted for peak season celery…

Because we’ve got it on special,

And it is just spectacular right now.

Other Greek versions use dill…

I’ve opted to keep it simple when it comes to herbs…

And have added some white wine into my cooking process,

Which has given it a wonderful depth of flavour.

Finally….

The part that sets the Greek version apart…

And makes it the best of all in my opinion…

The avgolemono.

Literally egg lemon,

It’s a sauce made by first beating egg whites,

In this case two,

Not to the point of being a meringue,

But just before,

Then adding through the yolks and juice of two lemons,

Beating for a little longer,

And then adding some of the fricassee liquid,

One ladle at a time,

Until it’s combined with say 3 or 4 ladles of stock…

At which point,

You add it back to your fricassee for a wonderful luscious finish.

Needless to say this goes with lots of crusty bread,

My dad thinks some potato would go well in it too…

And lots of salt, pepper and extra lemon to serve.

Fricassee is a one pot wonder that we should all; be thanking the French for.

All that’s left to say now is…

Buon appetite!

– – – – – – – – – –

Ingredients for the Stew

1kg pork neck, no bones, cut into medium sized cubes
1 whole celery
2 brown onions finely diced
2 garlic cloves finely diced
1 cup white wine
¼ cup olive oil
1 stock cube (we’ve used chicken)
Sea salt
Cracked pepper

Ingredients for the Egg & Lemon Sauce

2 eggs
Juice of 2 lemons
Sea salt
Cracked pepper

Method

Separate the celery stalks and cut off the leaves. Wash and de-string the stalks then cut them into 5cm pieces. Keep a handful of the leaves, wash them and chop coarsely. Set them aside.

Heat the olive oil in a large pot on medium heat and sauté the onion until softened. Add the pork and sauté until lightly browned, and then add the garlic and cook stirring for one minute.

Add the white wine and cook it until it reduces a little. Season with salt and pepper then add 3 cups of water and bring it to the boil. Once it’s come to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for one hour. Keep checking to make sure there is enough liquid and add more as required.

Add the celery stalks and leaves, stock cube and 3 cups of hot water and continue simmering, covered for 45 minutes. Reduce to a very low heat.

In a bowl, whisk the egg whites lightly, add the yolks and whisk together, then add the lemon and keep whisking lightly. Season with salt and pepper then add 4 ladles of the stew liquid slowly into the eggs and lemon, while still whisking to make sure the eggs do not scramble.

Add the eggs and lemon mix into the pot and shake the pot around lightly to combine everything. Remove from the heat and serve straight away with some crusty bread & some extra cracked pepper.