Lemon Chicken Soup Avgolemono Food

LEMON CHICKEN SOUP (AVGOLEMONO)

Steps:

• Cook the chicken: Place the chicken, onion, garlic, celery, carrot, cinnamon, turmeric, bay leaves, stock, and 2 cups (480 ml) hot water in a large saucepan. Season with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat, cover, and simmer for 40 minutes, until the chicken is cooked.
• Remove and cool chicken, then shred and cook rice: Spoon out the bay leaves and chicken and set aside on a plate to cool. Add the rice to the soup with remaining 2 cups (480ml) hot water. Cover and cook for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, use your hands to shred the chicken meat from the bones into very small pieces.
• Cook kale and return chicken to pot: After the rice has cooked, add the kale and return the chicken to the pot. Simmer for 5 minutes, then take off the heat.
• Whisk eggs: In a separate medium sized bowl, whisk together the eggs, lemon zest, and lemon juice until the mixture is foamy with no streaks remaining.
• Temper the eggs: Pour 2 ladles of broth from the saucepan into a cup. Then grab a whisk and slowly add this broth to the bowl of lemony eggs, a couple of tablespoons at a time, whisking constantly. Don't pour in too much hot broth too quickly, or you'll end up with scrambled eggs. Increase to a steady stream once you are halfway through, still whisking, until you've incorporated all of it. Slowly drizzle the mixture back into the saucepan, whisking the soup constantly as you do so and incorporating it slowly.
• Thicken soup: Return the pot to low heat, add the dill, and cook for 5 minutes to allow the soup to thicken. Don't let it come up to more than a gentle simmer and, if it starts to look a bit too thick, simply loosen it with a bit of hot water.
• Finish soup and serve: Finally, taste and adjust the seasoning, adding a bit more lemon juice, herbs, salt, or black pepper to taste. Serve in warmed bowls with a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil.

GREEK LEMON AND CHICKEN SOUP (AVGOLEMONO)

Steps:

• Heat oil in a large soup pot over medium-low heat. Add carrot, onion, and celery. Cook, stirring continuously, until vegetables start to soften and turn translucent, 5 to 10 minutes. Stir in garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.
• Add chicken broth, parsley, and oregano. Increase heat to medium-high and bring to a boil. Add chicken and orzo. Reduce heat to a simmer.
• Meanwhile, whisk eggs in a heat-safe bowl or glass measuring cup. Add the lemon juice and whisk until well combined.
• Slowly add a ladle of hot broth to the egg mixture, whisking quickly to avoid scrambling the eggs. Repeat with a few more ladles until the egg mixture is hot and steaming. Slowly pour the egg mixture into the saucepan and whisk until incorporated.
• Add 1/2 of the lemon zest to the soup; reserve remaining zest for another use. Taste soup; if too lemony, add chicken bouillon. Add hot pepper sauce, salt, and pepper. Cook until orzo is tender yet firm to the bite, about 5 more minutes. Serve immediately.

AVGOLEMONO: CHICKEN SOUP WITH EGG-LEMON SAUCE

Steps:

• Place the chicken in a large pot and add enough water to cover the chicken. Bring to a boil and reduce the heat to low, skimming when necessary.
• Heat the oil in a separate pan over medium heat and add the onions. Cook the onions until clear, about 5 minutes. Set aside.
• When the chicken is cooked through, 45 minutes to 1 hour, remove from the broth. Let the chicken cool, and then pull the meat from the bones. Dice into large cubes and set aside.
• Add the bay leaves, carrot, leek and reserved onions to the broth and simmer, about 1 hour.
• Remove the carrot and leek from the broth and add the rice. Bring to a boil, and then turn the heat to medium-high to simmer until the rice is cooked to al dente, about 30 minutes. Add the chicken back into the broth. Add more water if needed.
• In a small bowl, beat the lemon juice and eggs together. Pour 2 cups of broth slowly into the bowl, whisking continuously. Once all the broth is incorporated, add the mixture into the pot of chicken soup and stir to blend well throughout. Add the salt and pepper. Serve hot.

GREEK-STYLE CHICKEN LEMON RICE SOUP AKA AVGOLEMONO

Steps:

• Bring the chicken stock to a boil in a large stockpot over high heat. 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 the chicken to a bowl. Once cooled, shred the chicken and reserve.
• Add the rice to the pot with the chicken stock and cook until al dente, about 8 minutes.
• Whisk the egg whites to soft peaks in a large bowl. Whisk together the egg yolks and most of the lemon juice in a medium bowl, reserving some juice 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, stirring constantly and adding the hot liquid slowly. Add the lemon zest and shredded chicken with any reserved juices to the soup and, very slowly, add the warm whipped egg/lemon mixture. Whisk to incorporate the egg mixture and prevent any curds or clumps from forming. Continue to cook over medium-low to medium heat, whisking occasionally, until the soup thickens, about 10 minutes more.
• Season with salt and plenty of freshly cracked black pepper and add the remaining lemon juice if necessary. Add most of the parsley. Garnish individual bowls with the remaining 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 :-) ).