“Avgolemono Soup”
Avgo = egg. Lemono = lemon. Soup = a most satisfying fall weather meal.
Avgolemono is to me the quintessential Greek soup. It is soulfully satisfying like any chicken soup, piquant with the kiss of lemon, and - served with crusty bread – it is a meal in itself.
If you’ve had restaurant versions, they’re all pretty much the same, and perhaps you weren’t too impressed. Some call for cornstarch or milk as a binding ingredient. But if you make this at home, you must separate the eggs, and then serve it immediately. This is a luxury of timing that a busy restaurant cannot afford, but one that is necessary to give the soup its delicate, almost meringue-like texture,
Despite that tricky step, it is not a difficult soup to make. There are four basic ingredients. One, a good chicken broth. If you do not have time to make one, try your butcher, or use a quality store brand like “Better than Boullion.” Do not use that salty cube that’s been in the back of your spice cabinet since you graduated from college. Your guests will hate you, and rightly so. Make the danged broth. I have a suggestion for a quick version below.
Two, you will require a tiny yet special grain. Rice, orzo, couscous, or semolina will all work. Three, two eggs. Four, two lemons. That’s it!
You will also use salt and black pepper, and chopped parsley or dill; but these do not count as ingredients. But you still need them. It’s kind of like how the cover and signature pages do not count towards the page limit of a brief, but they are still required.
I also like to have fresh chicken pieces in the soup. This is not traditional, but if the soup is served as the main course, the Greeks would say, it is de rigueur. (Yes, Greeks speak French in the kitchen all the time. Oo la la. Mon dieu. Sacre bleu.)
In summary, your honor, I have taken this simple, four-ingredient recipe and made it unspeakably complicated, complete with French-speaking Greek cooks.
A. Make the chicken.
1. Buy a fresh whole chicken. Rinse and pat dry.
2. Cut off the wings, back, and neck and place those in the bottom of a soup pot.
3. Regard the chicken pieces you have left over. You should have breast, leg, and thighs. Say something nice to the chicken, then preheat the oven to 375.°
4. Now marinate those pieces in olive oil, lemon, chopped garlic, kosher salt and pepper. Toss well.
5. Arrange on a baking sheet and roast 40-50 minutes; do not overcook.
B. Make the broth.
6. Remember the scrap pieces of chicken you put in the bottom of the soup pot? Turn your attention back to this pot.
7. Roughly chop three large celery ribs with leaves, a medium carrot, a large onion, and 2 garlic cloves. Add to the soup pot.
8. Add a teaspoon of dried thyme, 6 black peppercorns, a couple of parsley sprigs, and a bay leaf.
9. Add 3 quarts of water with 2 TBS “Better than Boullion” (half normal strength).
10. Boil, then simmer on very low heat for 30 minutes.
C. Start the soup.
11. After the broth has simmered for 30 minutes, strain it. Return the clear liquid to the soup pot. Taste and adjust seasonings; it may need salt.
12. Boil the broth and add your pasta ingredient. If rice, allow 20 minutes (longer for brown); 10 minutes for orzo, and less than 5 for semolina or couscous. If that.
13. Chop your roasted chicken pieces into serving shapes for the soup. No, not tiny dices like baby food. Nice satisfying roughly torn pieces are better. Add these to the soup pot just as the pasta is done, stir, and remove from heat.
D. Make the avgolemono.
14. Separate two eggs. Beat the whites until peaks form. Add yolks to the whites and beat this mixture until it is blended. Add the juice of two lemons and stir the egg mixture until it is barely mixed.
15. Important: gently stir two ladlefuls of soup into the egg mixture to prevent curdling of the eggs, then pour the entire mixture back into the soup pot.
16. Ladle the finished soup into attractive French serving bowls. Top with chopped parsley and/or dill. Serve with crusty bread, a white wine such as Riesling or Sauvignon Blanc, and perhaps a simple green salad with cheese and olives. Serves four.
And that is IT. Couldn’t be simpler, right? Actually, Nick, it could be. Skip the chicken pieces and use a canned broth. But you already decided that several paragraphs up, didn’t you? Don’t lie – I saw your thought bubble!
Next column: instant moussaka – just add water. I swear, that’s all!
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