Chicken with Artichoke Hearts and Avgolemono

posted in chicken/poultry on Jul 10, 2008

Sometimes, you don’t really know what lurks in the depths of your freezer. I admit I’m a bit of a list-maker so I have a list of all the meats and quantities magnetized to my freezer door. But, I don’t write down the random things in there, like pesto “cubes,” walnuts, tortillas, phyllo cups, or in this case artichoke hearts.

Tom and I have been out of town a decent amount, and we’re going out of town again Saturday through Wednesday (which, as you may have guessed, translates to no blogging for me). So, rather than buying tons of groceries like I usually do, I’ve been trying to use up what’s in the freezer and my cabinets, buying some fresh produce when necessary. When I saw the artichokes, I knew they needed to be used up soon.

This Greek dish is most commonly made with lamb. And, of course I love it more with lamb because lamb is better than chicken. Duh. But “lamb” was not on my magnetized freezer list, so chicken it had to be. But no worries–this is a really tasty meal with chicken, too. It’s sort of like eating an avgolemono stew, rather than a soup, with artichokes in it. I personally prefer using a dark meat chicken for this because 1) it tastes better and 2) it holds up better to poaching/braising/etc. without drying out. We had this with a salad, and some rice to soak up all the egg-lemony goodness.

Have a great weekend and early week, all!

Chicken with Artichokes and Egg Lemon Sauce (Kota Me Aginares Kai Avgolemono)
Serves 2

1 Tbsp. olive oil
2-4 pieces bone-in chicken, skinned
1 small onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1.5 cups chicken broth
Dill, to taste
1 cup artichoke hearts
1 egg
1 lemon, juiced
a little cornstarch
salt and pepper

Heat a pan over medium heat and add the olive oil. Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper and then brown in the hot oil. Remove the chicken, and add the diced onions to the pan, cooking until translucent. Stir in the garlic until fragrant. Add the chicken broth, being sure to scrape up all the browned bits as you deglaze, and bring to a boil. Add the dill, chicken, and salt and pepper to taste. Cover and simmer over low heat for 15 minutes.

Add the artichoke hearts and continue to cook, this time uncovered, for about 10 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and the artichokes are tender. Season to taste if necessary.

In a large bowl, whisk together the egg, lemon juice and a little cornstarch. Slowly add a couple ladles full of the broth from the pan (I find it easier to plate the chicken first, so you don’t have to maneuver around that) to the egg-lemon mixture, whisking constantly so your eggs don’t scramble. Then, slowly add that mixture back into the pan, again whisking constantly. Stir until thickened. Pour the avgolemono sauce over the chicken and artichokes (and rice!)