Mmmm. Soup!
I don't know if it's due to the coldness outside or a desire for comforting home cooked food, but I woke up this morning remembering a delicious bowl of soup that my boyfriend Ben's grandma made for us back in March of this year. I loved it so much she provided me with a copy of the recipe (from a magazine of some type!). As a naturally organized person, I am actually perplexed as to where it is! I will blame its disappearance on moving cities in the late spring/early summer... But alas, it was I who misplaced it... However, I am confident that it will eventually turn up, most likely in the summer time when I don't want soup! ha!
So without having the recipe, I took to the good ol' internet to find a similar recipe. I searched for "lemon rice soups" and found numerous recipes for "Greek Lemon Rice" soup (aka Avgolemono). I quickly learned that this soup contains egg and that the rice soup I had been dreaming of from last March also would have contained egg. I have never used egg in a soup before and feel it is somewhat 'odd' to do so! I have however tried many yummy soups that contained egg, but I just have never personally felt compelled to try it for myself... until now!
Traditional Avgolemono consists of a few basic ingredients: chicken broth, rice (or orzo) and eggs. First, I read a recipe that called to separate the eggs. Uhh, that's a pain... no thanks. Next. I read a recipe that called for EIGHT eggs. No thanks, Next! I read a soup recipe that even included a cream of chicken soup can! Whaaat! Soup in soup? Nooooo Thank you! NEXT! I finally came across a recipe I was fond of and was delighted to discover that I had all the other ingredients! This is from TLC's Cooking website. I kinda followed it, of course... Here it is. My version follows.
TLC's Greek Lemon Soup
| 2 | tablespoons butter |
| 1/3 | cup minced green onions with tops |
| 6 | cups canned chicken broth |
| 2/3 | cup uncooked long grain white rice |
| 4 | eggs |
| Juice of 1 fresh lemon, or to taste |
| 1/8 | teaspoon white pepper (optional) |
PREPARATION:
- Melt butter in 3-quart saucepan over medium heat. Add green onions. Cook and stir about 3 minutes or until green onions are tender.
- Stir in chicken broth and rice. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to low; simmer, covered, 20 to 25 minutes or until rice is tender.
- Beat eggs in medium bowl with wire whisk until well beaten. Add lemon juice and 1/2 cup broth mixture to bowl. Gradually return egg mixture to broth mixture in saucepan, stirring constantly. Cook and stir over low heat 2 to 3 minutes or until broth mixture thickens enough to lightly coat spoon. Do not boil.
- Stir in pepper, if desired. Garnish with fresh mint and lemon peel, if desired.
- YIELD Makes 6 to 8 servings.
Recipe Source: http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/greek-lemon-and-rice-soup-recipe.htm
Homemade lemon rice soup.
So, as a tribute to the lovely M.Mathewson whose recipe I misplaced, here is:
My own Delicious Lemon Rice Soup!
6 cups water
3 chicken bouillon cubes
3/4 cup white rice
The last few squeezes of lemon juice I had
4 eggs
1/2 a carrot
1/4 of an onion
Butter
Parsley
Lemon Basil
Salt & Pepper to taste
Since I didn't have chicken broth like the recipe called for, I needed to make my own with bouillon cubes, but I didn't want to have to make the broth and THEN make the rice, I wanted to make it all at the same time.... So....
- Pour 6 cups water into a large pot and bring to a boil.
- Once water boils add bouillon cubes and rice.
- Allow to boil for 1-2 mins.
- Reduce to low heat, cover with a lid. Cook for approx. 30 mins
This is when I discovered that the TLC recipe was a wee bit bland. So I decided to add some carrot for some colour and flavour! I was going to add more ingredients but decided I better try to stick to the recipe as close as possible the first time so that the Greek Gods don't become upset with me! ha!
- About 5 minutes before the rice is done, melt butter in a small cookpan.
- Add chopped onion and carrot. Allow to cook for 5 mins.
- As the onion and carrot are being cooked, crack eggs into a bowl and mix well. Add lemon juice.
- Pour half of the broth/rice into the egg bowl. If you're like me, you may want to use a measuring cup to take approx. half the ingredients out vs. pour them out ;)
- Mix eggs and broth/rice mixture.
- Begin to add a bit of this mixture back into the cooking pot where the rest of the broth/rice is. Stir in well.
- Add cooked carrot and onion into the soup pot.
- Add more egg and broth/rice mixture into the soup pot. Stir in well. Keep doing this until all contents are back in the soup pot.
- Add parsley and lemon basil if you have it. Otherwise add some spices you like, perhaps some garlic powder or salt?
- And voila, done! Let me tell you, it tastes divine!!!
TIPS/SUGGESTIONS:
- Flavour would be greatly enhanced with the use of real chicken.
Homemade lemon rice soup. Simply Amazing!
Gooey and Delicious!
