Greek Chicken Soup Avgolemono A La Angelo Food

GREEK LEMON CHICKEN SOUP RECIPE (KOTOSOUPA AVGOLEMONO)

Steps:

• To prepare this traditional Greek lemon chicken soup, place your chicken in a deep pot. Push the chicken with your hands down to the bottom of the pan, add the whole onion, the carrot, pour in the water and season. The water should be enough to cover the chicken. Place on high heat, put the lid on and bring to the boil.
• When the chicken starts to boil, turn the heat down and boil the chicken for about 1 hour and 15 minutes. The chicken is ready when the meat can be removed easily from the bones. While the chicken boils, some white foam will probably surface on the water. Remove the foam with a slotted spoon.
• Proceed to pre soak your rice. While the chicken is cooking, rinse your rice and add it in a bowl and cover it with some water. Let it stand for 30 minutes. Using a fine colander, drain the water and set aside.
• Remove the chicken from the broth and strain the broth. You should have about 1 litre of broth left. If it has reduced a lot, add some water. Add the hot broth in another pot, add the rice and season with salt and pepper and boil, until done.
• While the rice is being cooked, prepare your chicken. Pull the chicken meat from the bones and discard the skin. Shred the meat into bite sized chunks.
• To prepare the egg lemon sauce for this Greek lemon chicken soup, crack the eggs into a bowl and whisk, until foamy; add the lemon juice and whisk again. Add into the bowl a ladle of hot soup and whisk quickly. Add one more ladle and whisk again, so that the eggs gradually warm up and cook gently. Pour the egg mixture back into the pot, whilst constantly stirring so your eggs do not curdle. Then put the lid on and set it aside for 3-4 minutes.
• To assemble and serve your chicken soup, ladle the soup into your bowls, top with the diced chicken and sprinkle with freshly ground pepper or paprika. Enjoy!

GREEK AVGOLEMONO CHICKEN SOUP

Steps:

• Rinse the chicken and remove any organs that may be inside. Place in a pot large enough for the chicken to move around, but not too much room or the broth will be watery. Add the chicken neck if that is included with your chicken. Fill with enough water to cover by about 1 inch. Cover and bring to a boil. When boiling, reduce heat to low and simmer for 45 minutes to 1 hour, skimming the fat from the top as it collects.
• When the chicken is done, the meat should pull from the bones easily. Transfer the bird to a large bowl and set aside to cool. Add the rice, and season the broth with salt and pepper. Simmer over low heat for 20 more minutes, or until rice is tender.
• Whisk the eggs with the lemon juice in a bowl. When the rice is done, turn off the heat. Whisk one ladle full of hot broth into the eggs slowly so the eggs do not curdle. Gradually whisk in more broth until the egg mixture is heated. Then pour the egg mixture back into the pot, whisking briskly. The result should be a creamy, cloudy looking soup. You may season with additional salt, pepper or lemon juice at this point.
• You may add pieces of chicken to the soup before serving or serve soup with salted chicken on the side.

GREEK CHICKEN SOUP AVGOLEMONO A LA ANGELO

Steps:

• 1. Fill the pot with water, about half way, add salt and olive oil, and start boiling. Wash chicken. Leave skin on. Then, slice the garlic in small pieces. Poke small holes in the chicken and insert the garlic pieces, in 5-6 places. You will use maybe two of the garlic cloves. I also cut half a lemon, squeeze the juice out, and add the used portion inside the chicken, with extra garlic. 2. Add the whole chicken to the boiling water. Make sure that the water doesn't cover the chicken, but it should be more than half way up up the chicken. At this point I also add the carrots and rice or noodles. You can add celery, leek, etc. if you use rice, probably want to add a bit more water. I boil it for about 45 minutes, turning it over once somewhere in the middle. When it's done, remove the chicken and put it on a cutting board and start cutting and cleaning the chicken. I usually remove all skin and bones while the chicken is still hot, it's a lot easier. Cut it into small or medium pieces and set aside in a plate. 3. Take a big bowl and add the juice of 2 lemons. Then add the egg and mix the two together with just a fork or mixing utensil, no need for mixer. By now, the soup will be a little cooler. It doesn't have to be cold, just not really hot. Using a ladle, remove soup from the big pot and add it slowly to the egg-lemon mixture, beating it with the fork constantly. Repeat this 4-5 times so the mixture starts having the color you've seen. At that point, the mixture should be safe and the egg won't curdle any more. You can then take the whole mixture and add it back into the big soup pot, mixing it with the ladle while you reheat the soup a little. Try to stop short of boiling it again, cause it will start to curdle the egg. It just needs a little heat, 3 or 4 minutes or so. At this stage, you can add some of the chicken pieces back in, or just save them to add whenever you reheat some soup. You can also add some more lemon juice and salt and pepper.

GREEK LEMON CHICKEN SOUP AKA AVGOLEMONO

Steps:

• In a large stockpot, bring the chicken stock to a boil. Add the chicken breasts and then lower to a simmer. Simmer until the chicken is just cooked through and the internal temperature registers 160 degrees F, 15 to 20 minutes; remove to a bowl. Once cooled, shred the chicken and reserve.
• Add the orzo or rice to the pot with the chicken stock and cook until al dente, 5 to 8 minutes.
• In a large bowl, whisk the egg whites to soft peaks. In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and most of the lemon juice, reserving some to add later as needed. Fold the egg yolk mixture into the egg whites. Once combined, ladle in some hot stock to temper the egg mixture, whisking constantly and adding the hot liquid slowly. Very slowly, add the warm whipped egg/lemon mixture into the pot, whisking constantly to prevent any curds or clumps from forming. Continue to cook over medium-low to medium heat, whisking, until the soup thickens, about 10 minutes more.
• Add the shredded chicken and any reserved juices to the soup. Add the lemon zest and season with salt and plenty of freshly cracked black pepper. Taste and add additional lemon juice if needed. Garnish with chopped parsley.

CHICKEN SOUP (GREEK, WITH AVGOLEMONO - EGG/LEMON SAUCE)

Steps:

• Put chicken, water, parsley, onion and salt in a large pan and bring to a boil.
• Cover pan and let simmer for 45 minutes.
• Remove chicken and parsley, discard parsley.
• Let chicken cool a bit, so you don't burn yourself, and cut into cubes.
• Set aside.
• Add rice, carrot and celery to broth and cook for 20 minutes.
• Add lemon juice to the soup.
• Stir.
• Turn off heat.
• Beat the eggs and cornstarch in a small bowl.
• While whisking, slowly dribble in hot chicken stock- never stop whisking.
• Do this until you have used up a couple of ladlefuls of stock.
• This tempers the eggs so they do not curdle.
• Slowly add egg to the hot soup and give a good stir.
• Add chicken and serve, sprinkled with a bit of pepper (if desired).
• Note: I would just like to point out that the eggs in this soup are not raw - they are cooked by the hot stock. That is what the tempering process is all about (and to make sure the eggs don't curdle :-) ).