Chicken stew in egg and lemon sauce should not be confused with chicken in lemon sauce. The latter is a typical dish of Chinese cuisine, with the chicken usually fried and covered with a sweet and sour lemon glaze.
Even in Europe there are original recipes for chicken in lemon sauce: in particular in Spain and France, as well as in Italy. Recipes that are generally simpler than Chinese ones, because, in practice, the meat is simply browned with white wine, various herbs and lemon juice.
But none of this has anything to do with the recipe. chicken in egg sauce that we propose, where the lemon is certainly characteristic, but the egg is even more so.
It’s about a typical recipe from Abruzzo and Molise, which is actually a little more elaborate than we present it. In fact, the traditional recipe is not just chicken in sauce, but… artichokes and chicken in egg sauce.
As an excuse, we say that even in Abruzzo the version with artichokes is now quite difficult to find, while this simplified version is quite common. Even in Rome and Lazio, which are in gastronomic and oenological symbiosis with Abruzzo, hopes of eating artichokes and chicken in egg sauce are non-existent or almost non-existent, while chicken alone in egg sauce is common both in families and in trattorias.
It is not difficult to prepare chicken in egg sauce. The only attention is to cook the chicken.. Which should be done adding a few liquids at a time so that at the end, before adding the egg sauce, the chicken is moist and soft, but with the cooking juices almost dry.
- 700 g boneless stewed chicken
- 1 onion
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 lemon
- 1 glass of meat broth or ½ bouillon cube
- Parsley
- 100 ml dry white wine
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Finely chop the onion and sauté it for 5 minutes over very low heat in a saucepan with 3 tablespoons of oil. Meanwhile, prepare the broth by dissolving half a bouillon cube in 200 ml of boiling water.
- Add the chicken to the chopped onion and brown it quickly over moderate heat, stirring and being careful not to burn the onion.
- Season with a tablespoon of chopped parsley and a teaspoon of grated lemon peel (only the yellow part of approximately a quarter of a lemon), add the wine and let it evaporate, always over moderate heat and stirring.
- We add half a glass of boiling broth (about 100 ml) and cook with the lid on and over low heat for 40 minutes. Stir occasionally. If necessary, add a little boiling broth at a time: in the end the stew should be moist, but with very little cooking juice.
- Meanwhile, prepare the sauce by beating the egg yolks with the lemon juice, season with salt and pepper, pour over the chicken and keep it on low heat for just under two more minutes, which are necessary for the sauce to harden without leaving any residue. let it dry.
- Chicken in egg and lemon sauce should be served hot. If you make it ahead, reheat it immediately before serving over very low heat (really as low as possible) with the lid on. Do not use the oven or microwave as they will dry out the sauce too much.
