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April 27, 2008
Avgolemono Soup
Mr. Spaceling and I have been feeling under the weather. When you're under the weather, it's hard to beat chicken soup. Avgolemono soup is the queen of chicken soups. I used the recipe from Mark Bittman's The Best Recipes in the World, with a couple of tweaks. To make the soup slightly more substantial, I poached some chicken thighs in the soup, and shredded the meat to put into the soup. I also used bulgur wheat instead of rice or orzo, because it was what I had on hand. It was nice, although I think bulgur doesn't expand as much during cooking as rice or orzo, so I think next time, I would add more.
The Ingredients
- 5 cups chicken broth
- 1 carrot, sliced
- 1 stick celery, thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup rice, orzo, or bulgur
- 6 chicken thighs, skin removed
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp. lemon zest
- 3 tbsp. lemon juice, plus more to taste (this was the juice from about 2 and a half small lemons)
- salt and pepper to taste
- a handful of chopped fresh dill for garnish
The Steps
- Heat the broth to a gentle simmer in a pot. Add carrot, celery, rice/orzo/bulgur, and chicken thighs. Cook everything gently for about 20 minutes, or until the rice and chicken are cooked.
- Turn the heat under the pot to low. Remove the chicken thighs to a plate. Let them cool a bit, and take the meat off the bones and shred it. Stir the meat back into the soup.
- Whisk the eggs in a bowl with the zest and lemon juice. Still whisking, slowly add about half a cup of the broth to the eggs. Add about another cup of broth, and keep whisking.
- Pour the egg mixture into the soup, and stir well. You can very gently reheat the soup a bit, but don't let it boil, or you'll get bits of cooked egg floating in your soup instead of the smooth egg emulsion.
- Taste, and add salt, pepper, or more lemon juice as needed. Serve with a bit of chopped dill on top.
Serves 4 to 6.
Posted by spaceling at April 27, 2008 08:21 AM
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