AVGOLEMONO THAT WOULD MAKE YIA YIA PROUD

Avgolemono literally means egg lemon in Greek.  This soup is one that as kids we ate fairly regularly whether it was Yia Yia, Nouna, or my Mom's.  All of them have their differences, but all were delicious.  Although this is not one passed down from the ages, I feel that it would get a nod of approval from the discerning palates of my family.  This recipe calls for chicken breasts, we used bone on to try to coax out a little more flavor.  Also, we added another 2 cups of stock in the beginning to create a more soup like dish.

Recipe:

8 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 small onion, peeled and cut in half
1 small carrot, peeled
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 bone on skin off chicken breasts 
1 cup long grain brown or brown and wild rice blend
2 eggs
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
Sea salt and ground pepper to taste



Ok, get your 8 cups of broth and the veg to a boil, then add the chicken and bring it down to a simmer.  Cover the stock for 40 minutes and watch the bears game for a while.

Little salt, little pepper

After your chicken is done cooking, take out the breasts and put them on a plate or cutting board for shredding later.  Meanwhile, drain the soup into a bowl to make sure to get all of your vegetables out.  back into the pot with the soup...down the garbage disposal for the veg.

Bring the soup back up to a simmer and add one cup of long grain brown and wild rice blend.  This one in particular has long grain basmati rice in it, which when cooking gives off a sweet aroma of corn roasting.  And it tastes good too!

Covered and simmered for 20 minutes...pull the chicken and add it in for another 5 minutes after the first 20.  Little salt, little pepper....

                                                                           Authenticity side bar:  This is where the Greek

recipe differs greatly.  Typically they will boil an

entire chicken and remove it, roast in the oven

 to serve on the side with the soup.  don't know if

is better or not, you'll have to ask your Yia Yia.

Now for the egg portion of our show....get two eggs into a mixer and get them going on medium until they are nice and frothy.

While those are frothing get your lemon juice ready...scoop out the seeds for Pete's sake!

Add your lemon juice to the frothy eggs while whisking on medium low

THIS IS WHERE THE LEGEND CARRIES ON!  With the egg lemon mixture on low whisk, slowly add one cup at a time of the hot soup...BUT!  YOU MUST MAKE A LITTLE KISSING SOUND WITH YOUR LIPS WHILE POURING IT IN OR THE WHOLE THING WILL BE A DISASTER!  IT WON'T WORK AND I BEG YOU NOT TO QUESTION ME ON THIS ONE...JUST MAKE THE KISSING SOUND OR THE WHOLE INSTITUTION OF THIS SOUP IS DONE FOR.  IT'S NOT YIA YIA OR NOUNA OR MOM'S SOUP WITHOUT THE KISSING, JUST A PILE OF MIXED INGREDIENTS THAT WILL PROBABLY DISINTEGRATE BEFORE YOUR VERY EYES!  FOR THE LOVE OF ALL GREEKS MAKE THE KISSING NOISE!

KISS WITH BOTH CUPS OF SOUP...THE FATE OF AVGOLEMONO DEPENDS ON IT!  After the 2nd cup of soup has been added and mixed in...add the egg lemon mixture back into the soup on the stove.

Phew...that was intense! Finish this baby off with the parsley make sure to season with salt and pepper and TASTE before you serve.

Usually there is some Yia Yia bread to dip into the soup, but since we had none of that and some left over biscuits from the morning, we improvised...The biscuits we damn fine, could have used some Yia Yia bread though...

Our wonderful friend Meghan brought us some cookies for dessert...BAD GIRL!  (thanks for the cookies!)