Avgolemono Soup
Light, refreshing, and easy to make, it’s no wonder that this soup is so popular in Greece. Supposedly this soup has its origins back to antiquity. I’m guessing part of its lasting appeal is that it uses inexpensive and common ingredients, comes together quickly and is equal parts humble and fancy-pants.
In this very basic avgolemono soup (it seems as though there are as many adaptions as there are Greek folks), rice gets cooked in a simple chicken broth. The soup is flavored with lots of lemon and thickened with eggs. It’s the perfect way to start a dinner party… it elegant but won’t fill you up. But if you’re looking for a more substantial soup, feel free to increase the amount of rice, or throw in some shredded chicken or chunks of carrots, onions or celery.
Avgolemono Soup
Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients:
* 8 cups chicken broth
* 1/3 cup short grain white rice (optional)
* 4 eggs, separated
* 6 Tablespoons lemon juice
* salt and pepper
* chopped parsley
Directions:
Bring the broth to a boil in a large soup pot. Add the rice, reduce heat, cover and simmer until the rice is cooked.
Using an electric mixer, whisk the egg whites until stiff. In a large bowl, whisk in the egg yolks and lemon juice and mix for another minute. Take a ladle of the broth, hold it about a foot over the bowl, and then slowly pour into the egg mixture (this is a trick to help cool the broth slightly) while whisking.
Remove the broth from the heat, and slowly whisk the egg mixture into the remaining broth. Add salt and pepper to taste. Ladle into individual bowls and top with some chopped parsley.
Welcome! I'm Cate and Girl Cooks World is my recipe journal from my culinary trip around the world. 
Dear Cate,I'm Clio and I'm from Greece.I really like your blog,very good work.I found the Greece section (!!!!) and I wanted to give you some info about the avgolemono soup recipe.Here,in Greece,we don't cook this soup plain with just rice,well,I certainly haven't heard it before.We have chicken avgolemono soup which is very popular,and there is a hole range of avgolemono recipes,soups and casserole dishes.Avgolemono is a sauce,which is done at the end and finishes the recipe with eggs (avgo in greek) and lemons.For example,we have “lamp with lettuce avgolemono,meatballs avgolemono soup,zuccnini stuffed with mince avgolemono,an easter soup with liver chopped and fresh onions,very traditional,we also have dolmades,this is turkish dish,it is like little parcels made by cabbage leaves that you steam a little and then are filled with mince,rice and herbs,and avgolemono.And many others.
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Hi Clio- thanks for your comment! It's always nice hearing and getting feedback from people in the countries that I'm cooking from :)
The chicken and meatball versions you mention sound great. It's funny because in the US almost all the recipes for avgolemono soup omit any of the add-ons (see two link examples below).
I guess it's one of those cases where those in the US or elsewhere reinterpret the original recipes? Anyways- it's actually quite good just plan with the rice- very nice and light!
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Avgolemono-352269
http://www.food.com/recipe/avgolemono-soup-greek-egg-lemon-soup-7602
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Just made this tonight for dinner and used some pre-cooked rice I had on hand and some chicken breast. Holy cow I was not ready for how delicious this was. I think it’s the lemon that makes it so good.
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Cate — October 30th, 2012 @ 6:29 pm
So glad you liked it! I definitely remember that it was a favorite around here :)
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