Artichoke stew

Method

1. Place the artichoke hearts in a bowl. Rub the lemon halves over them and squeeze any remaining lemon juice over the top. Leave the lemon halves in the bowl and add cold water to just cover the artichokes. Leave to soak until ready to use.
2. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat and sauté the garlic and shallots or baby onions for 5 minutes, or until softened. Add the carrots and sauté for another 10 minutes. Add the drained artichokes (reserving the squeezed lemon halves), bay leaves and dill and continue to cook, stirring well, for 5 minutes. Add the reserved lemon halves and enough water to just cover the mixture and simmer for 30–40 minutes until the sauce has thickened. Add the peas 10 minutes before the end of cooking. Season generously with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
3. For the egg-lemon sauce, whisk the eggs and lemon juice together in a bowl. Ladle some of the hot liquid from the stew into the bowl while whisking. Pour this mixture back into the stew and combine well with a wooden spoon. Continue to stir over low heat (being careful that the sauce does not curdle if the heat is too strong) for 3–5 minutes until the sauce begins to thicken. Remove immediately from the heat and serve warm with a sprig or two of fresh dill.