Jessica Flanigan with a Greek sauce that makes her forget her dreams of Hollandaise.
Text And Photo By Jessica Flanigan
Avgolemono sauce is a Greek Sauce with Mediterranean roots. It is made of eggs, broth and lemon juice. I think of it as a good stand in for hollandaise sauce. I might dream about hollandaise sauce on almost any appropriate food, but rarely do I muster the courage to make it for fear that I would consume a whole bowl of it in all its buttery glory. This sauce is just as special, minus the rich factor. Tarragon seemed like a natural edition to the lemon and egg, and paired with caramelized fennel and endive spears, the avgolemono sauce make it feel like a special occasion dish. I am drawn to avgolemono’s simplicity having only four ingredients, all of which I had in my kitchen. Of course this kind of sauce would work magic on asparagus or oven-roasted broccolini too. One tip: don’t boil the sauce or it will curdle the eggs.
PrintEndive and Fennel with Tarragon Avgolemono Sauce
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
Description
Avgolemono sauce is a Greek Sauce with Mediterranean roots, made of eggs, broth and lemon juice.
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups thinly sliced fennel (300g)
- 4 heads Belgian endive
- 1 tbls extra virgin olive oil (15ml)
- pinch salt
- 2/3 cup chicken stock (158ml)
- 1/3 cup lemon juice (79ml)
- 1 tbls chopped tarragon
- 2 eggs
Instructions
- Trim top and bottom off fennel bulb. Slice lengthwise using a sharp paring knife and slice out the core. Discard core. Slice remaining fennel in long ½ inch strips
- Trim ¼ inch off the bottom of the endives. Cut lengthwise into 1 inch thick pieces
- Heat olive oil in large pan. Add fennel and cook on medium high heat for 5 minutes stirring occasionally. You are looking for the fennel to start to brown and caramelize. Add endive and pinch of salt. Cook on medium heat for about 7 more minutes or until the endive starts to wilt and becomes soft. Plate and keep in warm place
- In a bowl, whisk together lemon juice and eggs until lightly frothy
- In saucepan, heat chicken stock until almost simmering. Remove from heat and slowly drizzle the hot stock into the egg mixture while constantly whisking. After mixed, pour back into saucepan and add chopped tarragon. Whisk on low heat until sauce thickens (will coat the back of a spoon) making sure not to bring sauce to a boil. Remove from heat and spoon half of the mixture over the fennel and endive
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
Sounds interesting and delicious!
Jessica, Congrats on your post! Fennel has never been on my menu plan as I’m afraid the kids wouldn’t like it as much as my husband and I. Any suggestions on how to introduce these types of food to them?
Noel..fennel is a bit of a tough sell for kids. But, oven roasting it is easy and mellows the flavors. I would toss coarsely chopped fennel in a bit of olive oil and sea salt, and bake covered for 30 min then uncovered for 15 at 350 degrees and then after you take it out of the oven I would lightly toss it in a couple of tablespoons of powdered Parmesan cheese. Seems to be my go-to method for kids..oven roast then coast in parm! Good luck! :)