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| Avgolemono Soup |
Moving to Los Angeles from New York City I expected to find
good Mexican food in my new beach town. What
I didn’t expect was the discovery of delicious, authentic Greek cuisine.
Old Venice came first.
For a few months after settling in I would satisfy my occasional takeout
craving with their hearty kebabs and a soup called avgolemono- a special I
prayed would be available each time I visited.
Before Old Venice, I had never had avgolemono but the combination
of chicken and rice in broth is as familiar and comforting as soup can be. What made this soup unique was the intense
tang of lemon juice and a silky thickness that I would learn comes from eggs.
One night, just months after relocating, Old Venice burnt
down, the victim of a fire started at a taqueria next door. It would be years before they reopened. Lucky for me a new Greek restaurant had moved
into town about the same time. Petroselevated the neighborhood Greek restaurant to a higher end experience, the menu
something of a mix of health minded beach culture and the namesake owner’s
obsession with authentically Greek ingredients[1].
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| Poaching Chicken for the Broth |
Old Venice eventually reopened and Petros continued to
attract the well-healed, bronzed denizens of the beach cities. I kept going to both- Old Venice for its
unpretentious, homey food and Petros for its devotion to quality
ingredients. Their differences never
bothered me much except in one respect: the avgolemono soup.
The flavors were similar but the execution vastly
different. Old Venice’s, made with rice
and seasoned minimally with a bit of dill, is the picture of simple
perfection. The soup at Petros on the
other hand is made with orzo instead of rice. It is thinner and soupier, studded with a fine
dice of aromatic vegetables.
A little research revealed neither of the approaches is
wrong. Avgolemono soup seems to be made
as often with orzo as it is with rice.
Recipes vary from 2 to 4 eggs for the same quantity of broth, a
difference that would drastically change the thickness. And the vegetables appear optional- either
used to season a long simmered broth with the poaching chicken and then discarded,
or finely chopped and added toward the end.
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| Whipped Egg Whites, Yolks, Lemon Juice |
I now live across the country from my old go-to sources for
avgolemono but the craving still hits from time to time. Last weekend I decided to go all out, making
avgolemono the way I think my grandmother would have, if my grandma had been
Greek.
I poached a whole chicken in water to make the broth instead
of buying precooked chicken and stock. I
discarded the vegetables instead of keeping them in. Rice beat out orzo because I already had lots
of rice in the pantry. And I went for
three eggs, splitting the difference.
The final soup was thick and creamy, intensely lemony with
the rustic look of the one at Old Venice.
But I had taken the long route, poaching the whole chicken and making my
own broth, an attention to quality that was reminiscent of Petros. Most importantly, it was soothing, filling
and tasty. I think even Petros’ mother
would have approved.
Avgolemono Soup
Time: 1 hr. 45
minutes
Servings: 6
1 whole chicken, about 4 lbs.
10 cups water
1 carrot
2 stalks celery
1 medium onion
2 garlic cloves
2 sprigs thyme
¾ cup white rice
½ cup lemon juice, about 4-5 juicy lemons
3 eggs
Salt
Pepper
½ cup chopped parsley or dill
Olive oil
Cut the chicken into quarters. Remove skin and discard. Place chicken pieces in a large soup pot and
cover with 10 cups of cold water. Peel
the carrot and cut in two pieces. Cut
each celery stalk in half. Cut the onion in quarters. Peel the garlic. Add all the veg to the pot with the
chicken. Bring to a boil then reduce to
a simmer. Simmer half covered with a lid
for about one hour, occasionally using a small ladle to skim off foam and fat
the floats to the top. After an hour
remove chicken to a platter and let cool slightly until it is safe to
handle. Use tongs or slotted spoon to
remove the veg and discard it. Bring
broth back to a boil. Season with salt
and pepper. Add rice. Cook rice for about 20 minutes until
tender. Meanwhile, chop 1 ½ cups of
chicken, about one leg and one breast.
Reserve the remaining chicken for another use. Juice lemons. Separate
eggs. Beat egg whites until soft peaks
form. Whisk egg yolk with the lemon
juice. Fold lemon-yolk mixture into the
egg whites. Remove 1 cup of broth from
the soup and slowly pour into the egg-lemon mixture, whisking constantly. Return egg-lemon mixture to the soup pot in a
steady stream, whisking constantly.
Bring the soup back to a simmer continuing to whisk until broth has
thickened. Stir in chopped chicken and
herbs. Taste for seasoning and add salt
and pepper if necessary. Ladle into
bowls and serve with a drizzle of olive oil.
Amy Powell is a food and travel writer based in New York City. She is a graduate of Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration and the French Culinary Institute. Follow her on Twitter @amymariepowell
Amy Powell is a food and travel writer based in New York City. She is a graduate of Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration and the French Culinary Institute. Follow her on Twitter @amymariepowell
[1] It is impossible to prove true the owner’s claim of
smuggling everything from the oregano to feta back in his suitcase from regular
trips to Greece, but I can confirm his mother made appearances in the
kitchen, flown in to give the chefs training on everything from homemade phyllo
to her special recipe for keftethes, a type of meatball.
