This dish is a riff/similar dish to one I prepared for you all last year, using Spring lamb. I know there are many of you who don’t eat lamb (your loss) but this dish might appeal to you, as veal shoulder is used.
What you want to remember is that there are three important aspects to this dish:
- Boiling the bone-in shoulder meat to render it tender and to give you a rich, delicious broth;
- Artichokes, this dish demands artichokes;
- Avgolemono Sauce, we really couldn’t call this an Avgolemono dish without the sauce, could we?
Beyond those three basics, the dish is up to your personal tastes. Seek what’s fresh, affordable and hopefully and ingredient used in Greek cooking. Artichokes are one such beloved ingredient and right up to yesterday, I was confronted by another person who was intimidated by the chore of cleaning artichokes.
Look no further…I’ve decided to finally post a play-by-play of how my family cleans artichokes. It’s really easy and I must insist that you resist lopping off the stems of the artichokes. After I show you how I trim them and you bite into them, you too will see how tender the stems are (pity you discarded them in the past).
To trim and clean artichokes, you will need lemon juice, water and a bowl, a good sharp knife, a vegetable peeler and a small spoon with teeth at the end – the kind used to eat a grapefruit.
- Prepare your water bath for your artichokes. Artichokes will quickly oxidize. Lemon juice retards oxidation. Fill a bowl with tap water and squeeze enough lemon juice in the water to just make it tart. That should be enough lemon juice to do the trick.
- With your hands, peel off the petals of the bulb (start by snapping off the leaves from the base) until you get to about halfway to the center of the bulb. You know you’ve peeled enough when you’ve exposed a pale green-yellow center of the artichoke.
- On to trimming your artichokes. Lop off about half of the artichoke’s bulb and just cut off the brown stem end of the vegetable.
- Now take your vegetable peeler and trim the stem until you once again are down to a colour that’s pale-green/yellow, much like the colour of the bulb which you’ve just exposed.
- Now using that toothed grapefruit spoon, dig into the center of the bulb and twist and dig out the “choke” or the hairy center. Scoop it out and gently go back into the spoon and turn and remove the remaining (slighty purple) hairy fibres (inedible).
- You’re done! Drop the cleaned & trimmed artichoke in your lemon/water bath and repeat with your remaining artichokes.
That wasn’t so hard, was it? Now we can cook up this fabulous delicious and easy dish to prepare. Today, I’m utilizing my pressure-cooker again, a great time-saver and an invaluable asset in anyone’s kitchen. (If you’re still a “fraidy-cat” about using the pressure cooker, then expect to simmer the veal for about 90 minutes).
Veal and Artichokes Avgolemono
(serves 6)
1 kg. veal shoulder, bone-in
12 small artichokes, peeled and cleaned (as per instructions above)
1/2 cup olive oil
6 scallions, finely chopped
3 medium onions, sliced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
6 whole medium potatoes
1 cup of fresh/frozen peas (thawed)
1 cup chopped fresh dill
water
salt & pepper to taste
Avgolemono
2 eggs
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 Tbsp. flour
splash of water
- Wash and rinse your veal shoulder and place it in the pressure cooker with enough water to cover the meat, along with some salt and pepper. Cover with the lid, secure and bring the cooker to a whistle (over high heat) then reduce to medium and simmer for about 40 minutes. Take off the heat, release the steam and only open the pressure cooker when the whistling has stopped. Set aside and keep warm.
- Clean/trim your artichokes and place in a water/lemon bath.
- In a large pot, add your olive oil over medium-high heat and then add your onions, scallions and garlic and simmer on medium heat for about 10-15 minutes to soften.
- Add your veal and potatoes and enough of the stock from the pressure cooker to just cover everything. Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce to a simmer for about 20 minutes.
- Remove your artichokes from the lemon/water bath and add into the pot. Simmer for another 20-30 minutes (or until the artichokes are tender). Add your your peas and freshly chopped dill and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Turn off the heat, cover and keep warm.
- Meanwhile in a bowl, prepare your Avgolemono Sauce by beating your eggs and flour and while still beating, add your lemon juice plus a splash of cold water.
- Take a ladle of stock from the the pot and whisk into the Avgolemono mixture. Continue whisking and add another ladle of stock.
- Add your Avgolemono back into your pot and shake the pot gently to allow the Avgolemono to set with the rest of the stew.
- Serve each plate with some artichokes, some tender peices of veal and spoon over some Avgolemono Sauce.
If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at https://kalofagas.ca then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at truenorth67 AT gmail DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author.
© 2007-2009 Peter Minakis
47 Responses
My kind of dish! Sà señor ;D. Artichokes are my favourite veggie and is always good to know other ways to cook them! Your dish sounds delicious Peter :D. I have to try it!
That’s a really delicious dish!!
When I clean artichokes, I always wear gloves, it’s not really difficult and you explain everything perfect!!
artichoke season – this looks great – i make the same dish without the meat, which looks like a great addition to the basic recipe
I admit to having a slight fear of cleaning and preparing artichokes…thank you for the step by step guide. The meat looks tender and there’s plenty of sauce to mop up too!
Thanks for the play-by-play for the artichokes – I am nervous about prepping them.
And yes, I am a pressure cooker fraidy cat. I blame hubby, he keeps telling me about the time his mother’s blew up.
Wonderful dish! I’ve been looking for something to do with artichokes and this is just perfect!
Oh yum! I like your play-by-play artichoke dissection. I usually trim the top first, but I will adopt your method – it looks easier!
thank you so much for the step by step play on artichokes! I’ve always been baffled by how to peel them.
that dish looks so amazing, I shouldn’t be looking at it before dinner.
A beautiful Easter dish! Really scrumptious looking!
Cheers,
Rosa
I’ll be there shortly- keep my plate warm ;-) I adore artichokes!
Save a plate for me too! Nothing says Spring like artichokes. It’s been a long time since I’ve prepared a veal shoulder; I know this has to be scrumptuous!
Mmmmmm. You just made my mouth water! That looks so incredible!!!
I love anything with artichokes…this looks rich, creamy and delicious!
That’s it!!! That’s what I’m making for the first night of passover! Thank you so much.. I’ve been racking my brain as to what to make… because I knew I wanted lamb. Can’t wait!
Yum! I am such an artichoke fan!
Nice work on the artichokes… Tried the whole peeling thing once, it so DIDNT work, and i’ve never looked back…. Maybe i’ll give them a shot tho, this looks gorgeous!
I love artichokes and this one sounds delicious but still I would prefer it without the meat.
I needed that tutorial bad! I’ve printed it out and can’t wait to clean artichokes myself for the first time ever!
My dearly beloved would eat artichokes all day long, and I would eat veal from here to the middle of next week, so it’s a winner here !
Thanks for showing us how to clean artichokes. I still buy them in a can. I should not tell you this. Great dish Peter.
I love avgolemono soup and I can only imagine how good this tastes. I cannot wait to try. Thanks for the artichoke tutorial, I usually just stuff the fresh ones.
I love that lemony silky flavour of the avgolemono. One needs never have fear of artichokes again.
Great post Peter – I’ll now give artichokes a go. I’ve never cooked them before but now I know how! Thank you.
Oh. Dear. Lord! This is so utterly amazing. I think I actually groaned when I saw the photo pop up. I love that avgolemono sauce that accompanies this, and that meat looks so rich and tender. Actually, it’s easier for me to find lamb, but I’d devour this no matter which form of protein was used. Great tutorial photos, too. YUM!
i suppose it is my loss that i don’t eat lamb. my loss, your gain.
moving on, this is an interesting dish, but guess what–i don’t eat veal either. does that make me a double loser? :)
I love artichokes but have never dared to prepare my own, your instructions were really helpful. Thanks!
Fresh and not frozen or canned artichokes do make a wold of difference and would be delicious enveloped in this lovely lemon sauce!!
Peter, I think the people who don’t eat lamb (their loss) are the same people who don’t eat veal (their loss X 2). Great looking dish, expert artichoke skills!
Two of my favorite things!
(and thanks, friend)
Peter, I love lamb and can’t understand why some people detest it soo–my cousin and his wife say they hate the smell…I just don’t get it!
This dish sounds so comforting–everything about it sounds perfect.
I stopped reading at people don’t eat lamb and my brain shut down because I don’t get it!
Very nice play by play with the artichokes! Oh crap I just got caught in a lie because I said I stopped reading at lamb…uhhh….exit stage left.
p.s. looks awesome and veal does make everything better.
This looks fabulous and I can’t wait to make it (after Easter)
Thank you for the step by step how to clean an artichoke.
Thanks Peter for this wonderful posting on how to prepare an artichoke! By the way, I’ll be in T.O. 1st July-7th July & wondered if you’re around for a coffee on the 2nd or 3rd? It would be great to meet! Cheers!
oh hell yeah peter. i am on an artichoke kick recently. i swear i could eat them breakfast, lunch and dinner. this looks gorge with the avgolemono. the lemon flavor must compliment the whole dish so well. this just spells SPRING. YES!!!
What an absolutely fabulous spring dish! So many people stay way from artichokes because they do not know how to clean them, but the taste of a fresh artichoke is so good, it is worth the try!
Skip the veal, I could eat a whole platter of those artichokes! Damm those look good!
You are the best! Thanks a million for the picture tutorial on the artichokes. :D
I would love this dish !
And bravo for cleaning artichokes !
Great tutorial! I was wondering what the proper way to clean artichokes!
I know I’d enjoy this dish. It really sounds delicious. Your step by step on the artichokes is really well done, too. Very nice, Peter.
Yumm! Can’t wait to make this. What is a classic/good starch to serve with this? Rice, flat bread, Couscous, maybe even egg noodles?
Jenny, I always have bread…mop-up that sauce!