Avgolemono Soup

Made a favorite soup: Avgolemono!  A Greek tradition that I have added to my repertoire.

At its heart, Avgolemono is a soup made from Chicken broth, rice, lemons and eggs.  But, of course, anything so simple will always get modified.  And I am nothing if not a modifier of a chef!

INGREDIENTS

2 quarts of Chicken Broth

1/2 cup of Rice (Kasmati is my choice)

7 Tbsp of freshly squeezed Lemon Juice

2 Eggs

1 Chicken Breast (from a Roasted Chicken)

1 large Leek

a drizzle of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Black Pepper (freshly ground)

I start by putting 2 quarts of Swanson's Chicken Broth is a medium soup pot and bringing the liquid to boil.  Then I add the rice, followed by the Chicken Breast and Leek.  

To prepare each: 1) I pull the Chicken Breast apart by hand into shreds of various sizes, and 2) I cut off the root base of the Leek, and then the outer layer of leaf, and finally remove the remaining top of the plant just above where the stalk turns green.  Calling this the core, I then cut the core into rings about 1-2mm thick.  Then I cut the rings across their diameter and add them to the boiling broth.

After about 20 minutes I cut the heat and a few minutes latter ladle out a cup of the broth and let it continue to cool for another 10 minutes or so.  

While the broth is cooling, I squeeze out the juice of a couple of Lemons to get 7 Tbsp.  I place this in a small mixing bowl and add in two Eggs.  I whisk the juice and eggs until they are well mixed and a little frothy.  Then I very slowing pour in the chick broth vigorously whisking all the while.  By slowly, I mean VERY slowly.  I take about 2 minutes to accomplish this.  If you go too fast, it can lead to a lemony egg drop soup catastrophe.  When well done, you have a custardy creamy mixture that you can then add to the rest of the soup, mixing it well as you do.  

Serve it with a drizzle of good Olive Oil and some freshly ground Black Pepper and have some good bread on hand for sopping, too!  It's an amazing soup.