Avgolemono Soup
Avgolemono, a.k.a. egg lemon soup has become my all time comfort food over the years. I first had it years ago at the Artist’s Cafe in Chicago, a classic Greek diner in the Fine Arts Building. Growing up, this was a regular stop for me every Thursday after ballet class beginning when I was six. Years later I went back on a Thursday and they still had the same soup special on the same day! I was thrilled that some things never change.
This post is in honor of all of you that may have suffered from the flu this season. When you’re digestion is at its weakest this recipe is a welcome home. It’s a nourishing chicken broth with rice, easy on your digestion but with a little more excitement from the dill and lemon. I spent a good 24 hours in bed myself a couple weeks ago, and this was all I could stomach on the tail end. Once I was finally ready to let the sun in and get out of bed, I made us all a big pot of this. I’ve been using my new slow cooker, the best present of the year, to make chicken stock with my leftover roast chicken bones.
The best part, this soup is a simple delicious recipe that calls for ingredients you probably already have on hand. The most important thing to remember is that you must let the soup cool slightly and add the broth and rice mixture to the eggs, before adding the eggs to the soup. The eggs are intended to behave as a thickener for the soup, not to become “egg drop” soup. I’ve added the fresh dill to this, and if you want to make it heartier, you can always add some larger pieces of pre-cooked chicken.
Ingredients:
5 cups chicken broth, home made is best!
1/3-cup basmati rice
1-teaspoon salt
2 eggs room temperature, gently whisked
Freshly chopped dill
1 lemon, cut into wedges for squeezing
Fresh ground pepper to taste
Directions:
In a medium pot, add the chicken broth and rice and bring to a boil. Simmer until the rice is soft. Add the sea salt. Turn off the heat and let cool slightly.
Whisk the eggs and add ¼ cup broth to the mixture. Stirring, little by little add more until you have about 2 cups broth in the egg bowl. It should look smooth without any scrambled egg pieces. Then add this mixture to the big pot of soup.
Over low heat warm the pot of soup stirring about 5 minutes. You will notice the soup becoming thicker.
Serve in a bowl, sprinkled with freshly chopped dill and a wedge of lemon to squeeze over the soup.