Greek chicken Soup with Egg and Lemon Sauce

A few weeks ago, my author friend Jackie Weger mentioned a Greek restaurant that she frequents in the States. She said it serves the most delicious chicken soup and asked me about it. I presumed she meant the Greek version that’s made with a creamy egg and lemon sauce. Other than being unbelievably yummy, this meal is ideal for chilly nights and for people fighting a cold.  As the summer is over and autumn is upon us, I thought the timing is perfect to introduce you all to this classic Greek  recipe.

Jackie, if you’re reading this, I  hope this is what you had in mind!

 

INGREDIENTS

A whole chicken cut in portions

½ cup of rice for soups

1 vegetable stock cube (or chicken stock cube)

2 lemons juiced

1-2 carrots sliced

Celery (a few leaves with their tiny stalks chopped up)

2 eggs (separate them and use 1 yolk and 2 egg whites)

1 small red onion (peeled and left whole)

A dash of olive oil, salt, pepper

 

PREPARATION

Wash the chicken pieces and place them in a pot of boiling water.

Add salt, olive oil, the stock cube, and the onion. Leave to simmer.

Check the chicken after about 45 minutes. When cooked, remove the chicken pieces, place in a platter and sprinkle pepper on top.

You can choose to remove the onion from the pot too or cut it into bits and leave it in.

Throw in the rice, the celery and the carrots and bring to the boil, then let simmer for about 20 minutes, until the rice is soft.

When the rice is done, prepare the egg and lemon sauce:

Beat the egg whites first with a fork or a whisker. Add the yolk, beat some more, then add the lemon slowly while beating.

Collect about half a cup of stock from the pot with a ladle. As you beat the eggs, add the stock SLOWLY.

THIS IS IMPORTANT and the reason is to slowly warm up the eggs.

If they get hot abruptly, the sauce will be ruined (it won’t thicken).

Once the egg mix is warmed up, remove the pot from the heat.

Pour the egg mix all over the soup and mix with a ladle.

Add pepper.

Enjoy with plenty of fresh bread.

NOTE

You can make a meal for 2 people only by using a few chicken bits instead of a whole chicken. For example, for two people, I use 1 whole chicken leg and 2-3 wings, only half a lemon and only 1 egg, as well as half a cup of rice. Bear in mind that most of the yumminess is in the skin, neck, and wings. Another variation I like is to serve the chicken in the soup. I.e. while the rice is boiling, I remove the flesh from the bones, remove the skin too, and at the end, before putting in the sauce, I mix the chicken meat in the pot with the soup.

 

KALI OREXI!!!!