Lamb "kapamas" with potatoes for Easter Sunday

This is not the most common way of having the Easter lamb but it is a nice alternative for those who would like to have something different than the classic recipes. With the term "Kapamas" we mean the meat dish (traditionally lamb, goat or beef but it can also be found with chicken) cooked in a pot in low heat and always covered with the lid while cooking and where the vegetables are added later on. "Kapamas" is nothing more than the turkish term of what the Greeks mean by ".... in the pot" and stayed with us thanks to the Greeks of Asia Minor. There are people though who object saying that "kapamas" is indeed slowly cooked but with the pot uncovered... I'd love to find out which of the two ways of cooking is the correct one but in the end of the day what really matters is the delicious taste of such kind of recipes. Ideal dish for big families or when we have guests around since we don't need to cook a separate side dish. You could even cook the meat the day before and add the vegetables in the pot the next day. The unusual stage of the specific version of the dish is that, although it is cooked with tomato, you can also add an egg & lemon sauce in the pot in the end of the cooking ("avgolemono")

Adapted from "Cook Book" magazine of "ETHNOS" newspaper (2010)

Ingredients (for 6 people):
2Kg of lamb thigh, cut in portions
6 tbsp of olive oil
500gr. of small white or yellow boiler onions (or pearl onions or small shallots)
1 tea-cup of dry red wine
1 tin of concassé tomatoes with their juices
1 tsp of sugar
3 cinnamon sticks
a few whole cloves
3-4 allspice berries
1 bay leaf (optional -my addition)
500gr. of potatoes, cut lengthwise in wedges (or baby potatoes)
salt
pepper

For the egg and lemon sauce (optional):
2 eggs
1 lemon, the juice

Method:
*** To make your life easier and gain some time, is better if you first score the onions in the root end cutting an X with a knife and then blanch for a few minutes so to be easier to peel.

Warm the oil in a spacious pot on medium-high heat. Sauté the meat and the onions stirring with a wooden spoon until they get nicely coloured on all sides.

Add the spices in the pot and pour over with the wine. Turn the heat down to medium-low and allow the alcohol to evaporate. Then add the tomatoes, the sugar, the bay leaf (if used) and season with salt and pepper. Cover the pot with the lid and simmer the meat for 1 1/2 hours.

Add the potatoes in the pot making sure that they are fully covered by the sauce. Cover with the lid and continue cooking for another 30-40 minutes until the meat and the potatoes are tender and left with a nice thick sauce.

*** The food is ready at this stage and you can serve it.

Otherwise, you prepare the egg/lemon sauce following these steps:  In a bowl beat the eggs with the lemon juice very well with a whisk. Get a ladleful of the food sauce and, without stopping the beating, slowly add it into the eggs mixture. In this way the eggs will come to the same temperature with the sauce and they won't curdle. Then slowly incorporate the egg/lemon mixture into the pot and then shake the pot in a circular mode so to coat the food evenly with the sauce.