Avgolemono Chicken Soup

Avgolemono Chicken Soup
3.3/5 rating (87 votes)

  • Serves: 6
  • Complexity: medium

Ingredients

  • chicken: 1, medium-sized
  • olive oil: a lug (optional)
  • white short-grain rice: 1 to ½ cup (those who don’t like sticky rice may as well opt for classic pilaf rice - white long-grain rice, which also makes equally tasty but thinner soup)
  • salt
  • pepper
  • lemon: 1 (the juice)
  • For the egg & lemon (avgolemono) sauce
  • eggs: 1-2
  • lemon: 1 (the juice)
  • pepper

Directions

  1. If you have bought the chicken from a butcher’s you can ask him to gut it and cut it into quarters, if desired. Otherwise, rinse it and put it uncut in a large pot. Fill with enough water to cover the chicken and bring to the boil. At this stage, froth rises to the surface - skim it patiently using a ladle. When no more froth comes up, season with salt and pepper, pour in the olive oil (optional) and leave the chicken to boil for 40΄-50΄. Always make sure the water covers the chicken by 2/3.

  2. Remove the chicken from the pot and transfer it into a soup tureen. Strain the broth through a big sieve and bring the now clear broth back to the boil. Depending on how thick you prefer your soup, add 1 to ½ cup rice for 8-9 cups of stock. Boil until the rice is cooked through - depending on the instructions on the package. To be on the safe side, you might as well have a taste. Remove the soup from the heat and allow to cool. Prepare the avgolemono sauce briskly beating one or two eggs, at room temperature, along with the lemon juice until thoroughly smooth and blended.

  3. Add the avgolemono into the broth as follows: pour a spoonful of warm broth into the bowl of avgolemono stirring well all the time to distribute into the mixture. Keep adding one spoonful at a time: your aim is to temper the avgolemono sauce, slowly bringing its temperature up to that of the broth so that it won’t split. Next, spoon the avgolemono into the pot stirring all the time. Control pouring speed/amount - not too fast for you to stir in thoroughly making sure it blends well throughout the broth.

  4. Serve the soup and the boiled chicken separately or shred the cooked chicken meat off the bones and into the soup before serving.