Egg and lemon together make for a delicate, slightly custard standard that is like a tangy cream – that’s avgolemono and a major player in Greek cuisine.  Sometimes a sauce and as in this recipe, sometimes a soup, avgolemono is enjoyed as a starter or a mezze and as a sauce for savory roasted lamb dishes.

Making avgolemono soup is as simple as it gets and you’ll be rewarded with an easy dish for a weeknight dinner or for entertaining.  One key point to remember when preparing this dish, do not allow the soup to boil once the eggs have been added to the warm broth and rice as this can curdle/scramble the eggs.

Avgolemono Soup
4 cups chicken broth or stock (low sodium)
Salt and pepper to taste
½ cup long grain rice
4 eggs
2 lemons

Heat broth/stock and rice with the salt and pepper to boiling, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 15 minutes or until the rice is tender.

Meanwhile, whisk the eggs and the juice of the two lemons together until light yellow and just slightly foamy.

Once the rice is done, remove from heat and add a bit of the stock to the eggs to warm them (temper the eggs) then whisk all together in the pot with the remaining stock and rice.  At this point if you’re not concerned about enjoying soft-cooked eggs, you can enjoy the soup as is, otherwise return to medium-low heat and cook for a few minutes, but do not let it boil.

Serves 4

Copyright 2008.