Kotosoupa avgolemono
Chicken Soup with Egg and Lemon
Avgolemono means egg and lemon, and it is a technique more than a dish: eggs beaten with lemon juice, loosened with hot broth and stirred into a soup so that it turns pale, silky and sharp without any cream. In chicken soup with rice it is what Greeks make for anyone who is ill, cold or tired.
The recipe read simmers a whole chicken of about 1.35 kg in 1.9 litres of water, cooks 100 g of rice in the strained broth, and finishes it with three eggs and 75 ml of lemon juice, tempered with hot broth and whisked in off the heat.
Ingredients
Ingredients
- 1 chicken, about 1.35 kg
- 1.9 litres cold water
- 1 onion, halved
- 1 carrot
- 1 celery stick
- 100 g short-grain or medium-grain rice
- 3 medium eggs, at room temperature
- 75 ml lemon juice (about 2 lemons)
- Fine sea salt and black pepper
Method
- Make the broth Put the chicken in a large saucepan with the water, onion, carrot, celery and 2 tsp salt. Bring to the boil, skim, then lower the heat and simmer gently, partly covered, for about 50 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through with no pink at the bone and the juices run clear.
- Strain and shred Lift out the chicken. Strain the broth into a clean saucepan and discard the vegetables. When the chicken is cool enough to handle, pull the meat from the bones in bite-sized pieces and discard the skin.
- Cook the rice Bring the broth back to the boil, add the rice and simmer for 15 to 18 minutes, until tender. Return the chicken to the pan, heat through, then take the pan off the heat.
- Add the egg and lemon Whisk the eggs in a bowl until frothy, then whisk in the lemon juice. Still whisking, add two ladles of hot broth a little at a time. Pour the mixture into the soup, stirring all the while. The soup will turn opaque and thicken slightly.
- Serve Season with salt and pepper and serve at once. To reheat, warm the soup very gently and do not let it boil, or the egg will scramble.
Food safety
The eggs are cooked only by the heat of the broth. Use eggs with the British Lion mark, or pasteurised egg, if serving anyone who is pregnant, elderly, very young or unwell.
Take the pan off the heat before the egg goes in, and add the hot broth to the eggs slowly. Both steps stop it curdling.