Avgolemono Soup

Avgolemono Soup is a classic Greek chicken soup.  You can find it on the menu of almost every Greek restaurant.  Growing up, my mother made this soup whenever someone was sick in the household.  It’s the Greek equivalent of Jewish Penicillin, (aka – chicken soup).  I made it this week because one of my kids came down with a cold.  I swear she was all better in 48 hours.  Even if you’re not sick, this is a great, tasty, simple soup to make.

Start with a boneless, skinless chicken thighs.

Place 5 – 6 skinless chicken thighs in a large pot and fill with water.

Bring the chicken to boil and then reduce the heat to a low boil and cook for about 20 minutes.

Then I add chicken bouillon instead of salt.  This adds more flavor.  My all time favorite bouillon is called “Better than Bouillon”.  It is by far the best Bouillon out there.  When a recipe calls for chicken or beef stock, and I don’t have time to make any, I use this instead.  Cook for 10 – 15 minutes longer, or until your chicken is well cooked and tender.

Remove the chicken and cut into bite size pieces.  Add 3/4 to 1 cup of long grain rice, depending on how thick you want to make it.  I like to leave it brothy, so I add about 1/2 to 3/4 cups of rice.  You can also use Orzo.  Cook the rice for 15 minutes or until done.  Do not overcook the rice.

Take 2 large eggs and place them in a mixing bowl.

Beat the eggs silly…..

Add the juice of 2 lemons.

Be careful not to get any seeds into the eggs.

 

This is the most important step in making this soup, so pay attention.  With the broth and rice done and the heat off, using a ladle, you are going to take the broth of the soup and temper the eggs by adding a little broth at a time to the egg and lemon mixture, while beating it with a whisk.  Continue to do that till the mixing bowl is full of broth.  The whole idea to to incorporate the egg and lemon mixture with the broth, without cooking the egg.  If you don’t do this and just add the egg lemon mixture to the soup, then you are going to end up with scrambled eggs in your soup.  It will end up looking more like egg drop soup.

Now you are going to pour the contents of the mixing bowl, into the large pot of soup.

Give it a nice stir.

Add back the cut up chicken.

Garnish with fresh chopped Italian parsley.  It’s done!

 

Ingredients:

5 – 6 skinless, boneless chicken thighs

2 -3 lemons

2 large eggs

1/2 cup – 1 cup long grain rice

10 cups of water (give or take a cup)

Chicken bouillon (optional)

Italian parsley (optional)

Salt and pepper to taste

Cooking method:

Place 5 – 6 skinless, boneless chicken thighs in a large pot and fill with water, enough to cover the chicken well.  For my pot, I used 10 cups of water.  Some of this water will evaporate when cooking.  Bring the chicken to a boil and then reduce to a low boil.  Cook for 20 minutes.  Instead of using salt to flavor your broth, you can use chicken bouillon. This adds more flavor and salts the soup at the same time.  I like to use “Better than Bouillon” brand.  Add the bouillon at this point to flavor the soup.  Cook for an additional 15 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked and tender.  Remove chicken and cut up into bite size pieces.  Add 1/2 cup to 1 cup of long grain rice, depending on how thick you want to make your soup.  I like mine brothy.  You can also use Orzo pasta instead of rice.  I personally like it better with rice.  Cook the rice until done, about 15 minutes.  Take 2 large eggs and beat them in a mixing bowl.  Add the juice of 2 lemons to the eggs.  Whisk them together.  Turn the heat off on the soup.  With a ladle, take some of the broth of the soup and add it to the lemon/egg mixture and whisk together.  What you are doing is tempering the eggs so that they do not cook in the broth.  Continue to do this until the mixing bowl is full of broth.  If you don’t do this step, then your soup will look like it has scrambled eggs in it.  Add the broth – lemon/egg mixture to the large pot of soup and give it a stir.  Add the cut up chicken back to the pot.  That’s all there is to it.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  If you like it more lemony, then you can squeeze some more lemon in the pot.

Serves 8