Lamb and lettuce stew with Avgolemono sauce

I'm so impressionable that as I was reading Murder in Mykonos I was getting "homesick" for Greece. Granted, my five-week visit to the Peloponnese and several islands decades ago hardly makes Greece a second home, but it left a powerful impression on me. In any case, author Jeffrey Siger's great descriptions took me back and prompted me to break out the ouzo for an aperitif and rummage through Andy Harris's Modern Greek for this recipe. It's very simple, ideal for a weekday and delicious. The lamb is a bit of a splurge, but it's still cheaper than going out for a burger these days.

You take 3 lbs. of boned leg of lamb, trimmed and cubed and brown it in 3 Tbl. of olive oil for 10 min. Then you add 2 "heads" of Romaine lettuce (I used 2 of the Romaine hearts that are now sold in packages), finely shredded; 2 bunches of green onions, finely chopped; and a small bunch of dill, finely chopped, and cook, stirring, for another 10 min., until the greens are thoroughly wilted. Then you add salt and pepper, and water to cover (I only needed 2 c.) and simmer for 1 to 1-1/2 hours, until meat is tender (only took an hour).

You let it cool some before whipping up the Avgolemono sauce. Now Andrea rolled out that word like she was born in Greece, though she admitted she'd never made it, but while I'm pretty sure I've had it in Greek dishes, I'd never encountered it in a recipe before. Anyway, very simple. You lightly beat two eggs, whisk in the juice of 1-1/2 lemon, whisk in a ladleful of the broth from the stew, and then stir it all into the stew and cook over low heat a few minutes for it to thicken. Serve with bread (I used ciabatta in the absence of a decent hard-crust bread).

The lettuce had disintegrated to the point that Andrea asked whether the sauce had been purreed. Nope. A nice, different flavor and a great light stew.