Avoyolemoni Soupa (Greek egg and lemon soup)

This is a very traditional soup served at Greek Easter after midnight mass to break the Easter fast of Lent. I added a wholefoods spin to my parents’ traditional recipe by soaking the rice (to learn why this is important read this earlier post here) and ensuring that I purchase a certified organic or at the very least a pastured chicken that is not fed GMO grains. 

This is the only time I make a chicken stock (or broth) with a whole chicken. Usually I make a chicken broth using chicken bones only as set out in my online bone broth workshop which you can check out here. 

I love this soup so much not only because of the fond memories it evokes but because of its innocent and comforting flavour. There’s only a handful of ingredients but the trick is all in the technique to make it frothy and creamy without the eggs curdling. 

This is my daughters favourite soup and I hope that she will pass down the recipe to her children and many generations ahead. 

This soup is traditionally served with Greek Cypriot Flaounes. Between these 2 recipes, your wholefoods Greek Easter is sorted. I hope you enjoy these recipes as much as I do and please tag me in your posts (@staraniseorganic) so I can see your creations. 

Ingredients:

• 1 cup white rice

• 1 whole organic or pastured chicken

• 3 pastured eggs

• 2 teaspoons unrefined salt plus extra for seasoning chicken meat

• cracked pepper

• 2 tablespoons lemon juice plus extra for seasoning chicken meat
  

Directions:

1. Soak 1 cup rice in 2 cups of water overnight then strain and rinse. 

2. Place 1 whole chicken in a large saucepan and add 1.5L waters. If whole chicken doesn’t fit into your saucepan cut it in half with a sharp knife. 

3. Cover, bring to a boil (this takes approx. 10 minutes) then slow simmer for 3 hours (you can slow simmer for longer e.g. 6 hours but be sure that the heat is very low so that not much if any of the liquid evaporates). The result should be a beautiful chicken stock. Strain the stock into a large bowl (while keeping the chicken in the saucepan, covered, to stay warm). 

4. Add rice to a small saucepan and add 2 cups of the strained stock. Cover, bring to the boil then simmer until rice is cooked through and the stock has been absorbed, stirring occasionally. 

5. Beat eggs well until frothy with hand held blender. 

6. Add 1 cup of stock in a smaller bowl and very slowly pour in the eggs mixing with a stick blender. Add this egg/stock mixture into the large bowl of stock and mix again with the stick blender until the mixture is frothy on the top. Add in the rice, lemon juice, salt and cracked pepper and stir well to combine. 

7. Place the chicken a platter, roughly breaking it up into pieces (you can try to remove as many of the bones as you can at this point).  Season the chicken with additional salt, pepper and lemon juice to taste.

8. Ladle the soup into bowls.  Serve with the chicken either on a side plate or added into the soup. 
   

Serves 6 as a main or 8 as an entrée. It is likely you will have some chicken left over.