Alternative Mageiritsa w/ Mushrooms

Ingredients:

150g Chestnut Mushrooms

125g Shiitake Mushrooms

2 Portobello Mushrooms

1-2 Onions

1-2 Spring Onions

1 Lettuce

20g Dill

1 Vegetable Stock Cube

1 cup Dry White Wine

1 Lemon

3 Eggs

1/2 tbsp Thyme

Salt/Pepper

This recipe is slightly different from the rest in that it is a very traditional Greek dish, prepared by many Greeks on Good Saturday (Μεγαλο Σαββατο), just before Easter Sunday. Traditionally, it is made with beef liver. However, as that is not to most people’s taste (including mine), I decided to make it with mushrooms, which has become a very common substitute in Greece nowadays. It may look a bit daunting but it is actually a very simple dish, if done right with a just a bit of love. Here is how its made:

1). The easiest way to make this dish is to make sure you have all your ingredients prepared beforehand so all you have to do is throw them in the pan when the time comes. So, start off by roughly chopping all the mushrooms, lettuce (finely), spring onions, dry onion and dill. I suggest chopping them and adding each ingredient into separate bowls so you have them ready to go.

2). In a large and preferably deep pan, heat on a medium-high heat and add in the chopped dry onion only. Cook until brown and then go in with all the mushrooms. Cook gently until they start to shrink and they release the water they hold. Cook for 10 mins so the excess water evaporates and then add the wine. Cook for another 5 mins.

3). Once the alcohol has evaporated, add the stock cube, lettuce, spring onion and dill followed by a generous amount of water; enough so the pan is half full (and a bit more) of water. Leave to boil for about 20-25 mins. After the first 15 mins, add half a cup of rice to boil in the pan. This will absorb a large quantity of juices from the pan.

4). After the 25 mins are up, the only slightly difficult part comes. The augolemono (αυγολεμονο), which basically means eggs and lemon together. This is a traditional concept which is often used as a sauce for many dishes, most notably this one. The steps are as follows:

5). Add the eggs to a jug and mix well. Also add the juice from a lemon. Keep mixing. Meanwhile, take the pan off the heat. Very slowly take the juice from the pan and add to the egg mixture very gradually while constantly stiring quickly. You can use someone else’s help for this if needed. This process is done in order to cook the egg without is turning out like scrambled eggs. Add about five spoonfuls of the pan juice until the eggs are cooked. Then add the egg mixture back into the pan and cook for another 2-3 mins and that is it. The challenge is definitely worth it! Give it a go!