“The Corfiot countryside offers an abundance of herbs, wild greens, flowers and tender shoots in the springtime. Lamb and goat are well raised and well fed. Cooked together, they make the traditional Corfiot tsilihourda,” says chef Aristotelis Megoulas, a native of the Ionian island.
“There is no single recipe, but variations from one part of the island to another: some add tomato paste and red pepper, others add spices, some include rice and some finish it with an egg-lemon sauce. The common thread, however, is the use of herbs. It’s not a soup like magiritsa, but cooked down until it forms a wonderful sauce that, as locals say, can be eaten with a fork.”
“After 40 days of fasting, the stomach couldn’t handle anything heavy,” Megoulas explains. “People would take a red egg to church, eat it and bury the shells in the fields for blessing. They would sip some of the warm cooking broth. The wood-fired oven was lit for Easter breads like colombina or fogatsa. At midday on Sunday, most preferred a cooked dish or soup. The hearth burned all day, and the pot was filled with lamb, beef or chicken for lunch, and tsilihourda for the evening. True enthusiasts would even grate a little cinnamon over the dish.”
Chef: Aristotelis Megoulas
Prep: 40’
Cooking: 2.5 hours
Ingredients
(serves 4-6)
• 1 lamb pluck, 800 g to 1 kg
• 1 set of lamb intestines
• 200-300 g sweetbreads
• 2 leeks, thinly sliced
• 10 spring onions, finely chopped
• 1 red onion, finely chopped
• 4 green garlic stalks (or 4 garlic cloves), finely chopped
• 200 ml good-quality retsina or dry white wine
• 1 kg mixed wild greens (such as chicory, chard, beet greens, nettles, sow thistle, wild mustard etc), cleaned, washed, dried and finely chopped. Or, alternatively, 1 large bunch chard and 1 large head lettuce
• 1 large bunch mixed herbs (wild fennel, dill, mint, coriander, fresh oregano, parsley)
• 2 eggs, yolks and whites separated, at room temperature
• juice of 2 lemons
• 100 ml olive oil, plus extra for serving
• salt, freshly ground green pepper
Method
Bring a large pot of water to boil. Once it reaches a rolling boil, add the lamb pluck and blanch it for 5 minutes, counting from the moment the water returns to a boil. Remove and transfer to a large bowl. Blanch the sweetbreads in the same way, followed by the intestines.
Let everything cool, then cut into small pieces about 1 cm in size using kitchen scissors. Combine all the chopped ingredients in a large bowl.
Wash and dry the pot. Add 40 ml of the olive oil, both kinds of onions, the leek, the garlic and a little salt, and cook over low to medium heat until the ingredients soften and gently sweat, about 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat another pot over very high heat until it is lightly smoking. Add the remaining olive oil and saute the blanched offal in batches until lightly browned. Transfer each batch to the pot with the softened vegetables.
Once all the offal has been added to the big pot, increase the heat, season with salt and pepper, and stir for about a minute. Deglaze with the wine and let it cook for 1-2 minutes until the alcohol evaporates.
Add enough water to fully cover the ingredients. Reduce the heat, season with a little more salt, and skim for a few minutes, until the broth becomes clear and clean.
Cover the pot and simmer gently for 1.5 hours. Uncover, slightly increase the heat, and cook for a few more minutes until the liquid reduces, forming a thick, cohesive sauce. Add the greens and the lemon juice, stir and cover the pot again. Cook for 10 minutes, until the greens release their flavorful juices and soften.
Set aside a few herb tips for serving, then add the remaining herbs to the pot. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally, and remove from the heat.
In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites into a stiff meringue, then add the yolks one at a time, mixing well. Gradually ladle in some hot broth from the pot, stirring constantly, until the mixture is well warmed. Pour it into the pot and shake gently to incorporate it into the sauce. Keep the dish warm – do not return it to the heat.
Serve in deep plates, garnish with the reserved herbs and finish with freshly ground green pepper and a drizzle of olive oil.
This story first appeared in Kathimerini’s food supplement, Gastronomos.