Lemonato: Meat Simmered in Lemon Juice

It is not photogenic, but for me and many Greeks, it is the best way to cook veal or beef, and also lamb and goat: a feast with minimal ingredients for passionate lemon lovers!

The enticing aroma of this long simmering lemony meat marked the weekends as I was growing up. We ate meat twice a week then, usually keftedes (meatballs) or macaroni with meat sauce, and veal or beef with vegetables or rice on Sundays.

I have associated the aroma of lemonato with the dark, back kitchen in our downtown apartment where we moved when I was 17. Abandoning the home I was born in, on the outskirts of the city, a house surrounded by gardens and trees, wasn’t a traumatic experience. My sister and I looked forward to the brand new apartment across from the Archeological museum.

We could walk to Omonoia and further up to Syntagma on the busy avenues, with the lights and the glamorous shops. Later on the area became a nightmare of traffic, pollution and noise, but when we moved to the luxurious building with the imposing entrance and the large white marble staircase, the area was considered classy. For me the greatest advantage of the apartment was the back, service kitchen elevator. Far from my parents’ bedroom, it was possible to secretly escape some nights and party with my friends…

A calf wonders free. Hora Kea’s main town in the back.

Beef and veal was very tasty but quite tough during my childhood, and continues to be here on Kea where the local free-range veal or cows’ meat is available to those who ask for it and are willing to pay more than the packaged supermarket meat.

I remember that my mother started cooking our Sunday lunch on Saturday afternoon and the aroma of lemonato filled the kitchen and half the house. The meat simmered in plenty of lemon Juice for at least three hours, then was left on the cooling stove overnight. On Sunday it was simmered for another two-three hours or more together with chunks of potatoes that had previously been briefly fried in olive oil. The flavor of these potatoes that had absorbed the lemony and meaty sauce was sublime!

Winter lemon trees are usually filled with fruit with very few leaves. Our lemons are like the Amalfi ones, with plenty of aroma and not too sour juice.

LEMONATO: Beef chanks simmered in lemon juice, with potatoes

Note that I have never cooked lemonato with American meat, which might need less time to cook, so taste after one hour and proceed accordingly.

Serves 4-6

1 kg beef shank cubed

3 tbsp olive oil

1 clove garlic, peeled and sliced

2 medium onions, coarsely sliced

2-3 tablespoons flour

1 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice

2 cups water

Salt and pepper to taste

3-4 waxy potatoes, peeled, cut in chanks, and briefly fried in olive oil.

Honey or sugar (optional)

In a heavy pot, over medium-high heat add the olive oil and briefly sauté the onions and garlic, then add the meat and sauté briefly, turning the pieces with tongs.

Sprinkle with the flour, turn the meat chanks a few times, and sauté for a few minutes. Pour in the lemon and water, add about 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 -1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper. Toss and lower the heat so the meat simmers. Cover with a piece of parchment paper and the pot’s cover, and let the meat cook very slowly for 2-3 hours.

Turn off the heat and let the pot cool overnight. The next morning turn on the heat and simmer for 30 minutes, then check that the meat is almost cooked and tender and add the potatoes in-between the pieces. Simmer for another hour or more and taste. If you find it too lemony add a tablespoon of honey, and more salt and pepper to taste.

Leftovers, reheated slowly the next day are even better…