I love to plant celery in autumn to make sure that I have plenty of the good stuff available in winter for this classic Greek dish. Some people like it only with a decent squeeze of lemon right at the end however I like it the completely “old school” way, where it is finished off with an avgolemono (egg and lemon) sauce. It can be a little tricky to make the sauce but trust me it’s so worth the extra trouble!
Final word…make sure you have plenty of good crusty bread at hand to mop up anything that’s left on the plate! I love this recipe – it’s delicious, hearty and uses the whole celery which not many recipes do!
As always, please feel free to share the recipe and also tag me, or leave a comment below, if you make it!
Serves: 6Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 75 minutes
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons quality olive oil
- 1 large brown onion, finely chopped
- 1.2kg pork pieces (I like a mix of ribs and steak), cut in half
- 12 celery stalks (about ¾ of a large bunch) (including the leaves), cut into 1 inch pieces
- 3-4 potatoes, depending on how large they are, cut into thick wedges
- 2 cups water
- Sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 2 eggs, separated
- 1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven over a medium-high heat, add the onion and saute until the onions until they are soft and very lightly caramelized.
- Add the pork pieces, turning occasionally until they are browned all over. Add the celery stalks (saving the leaves for later) and potatoes and stir about so that they are well combined with the onion and pork. Season with salt and pepper.
- Add the water to the pot and bring it all to the boil and then partially cover the pot with the lid. Reduce to a low-medium heat and allow to simmer for 20 minutes. Add the celery leaves, partially cover again and allow to simmer for a further 20 minutes or until the celery stalks are completely cooked through.
- Now it’s time to prepare the avgolemono sauce. Firstly, add about ½ cup of the salsa from the pot into the lemon juice. Then, beat the egg whites for a minute or so on a medium speed with electric hand beaters until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolks and beat for another minute. While continuing to beat the mixture, add the juice/ salsa mixture to the bowl and continue beating for about another minute to ensure the egg doesn’t curdle.
- While the heat is on low, start to gently shake the pot and, while gently shaking, add the avgolemono sauce. Keep gently shaking the pot so that the sauce is immersed into the dish and coats the pork and vegetables. Slightly turn the heat up, shaking the pot often, and cook until everything comes to a boil (this is how you know the egg has cooked). Let it sit for 5 minutes to slightly thicken before serving.
