Chef Loi’s Notes: The ultimate panacea, this chicken soup feeds your heart and soul, in addition to your stomach. Perfect for curing any ailment, this recipe is exactly how my grandmother used to make it for me, but if you like, feel free to add other vegetables and herbs that you enjoy!
Chicken Soup With Egg-Lemon Emulsion (Kotosoupa Avgolemono)
Serves 8-10
Ingredients:
1 whole chicken (3 to 4 pounds), skin removed 1 medium red onion, chopped
1 medium red onion, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
¼ cup olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
½ cup Loi Kritharaki Orzo pasta (or another whole-grain pasta)
Egg-Lemon (Avgolemono) Sauce (recipe to follow)
Chopped fresh parsley, for garnish
Lemon wedges, for garnish
Method:
Rinse the chicken well and place it in a large pot. Add water to cover the chicken by 1 or 2 inches. Add the onion, celery, olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer until the chicken is tender and thoroughly cooked, 35 to 40 minutes. If the liquid no longer completely covers the chicken as it cooks, add a little more.
Remove the chicken from the pot and place it on a large platter. When cool enough to handle, pull the meat from the bones and cut into tiny pieces or shred it by hand. Cover the platter of meat with foil and set aside.
Strain the broth from cooking the chicken through a large sieve set over a large bowl (reserve the onion and celery). Measure the number of cups of broth. You will need 8 cups of liquid, so add water if you need to.
Pour the broth back into the pot. Return the onion and the celery to the broth. Bring the broth to a boil over medium heat. When the broth boils, stir in the pasta. Continue to boil over medium heat, stirring, until the pasta is al dente or cooked to desired doneness.
Remove the pot from the heat and stir in the reserved chicken pieces. Stir in the avgolemono sauce and continue stirring until it is fully incorporated. Return the soup to low heat and cook, stirring, for about 1 minute.
Serve the soup garnished with fresh parsley and lemon wedges.
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Traditional Egg-Lemon Sauce (Avgolemono Sauce)
Makes about 2 cups
Avgolemono sauce is not as scary or complicated a sauce as people think it is; the key to making my special recipe has to do with tempering the eggs, so it will not curdle when added to another dish!
Ingredients:
2 eggs
2 tablespoons gluten-free flour or all-purpose flour
2 cups cold water
Juice of 1 lemon (2 to 3 tablespoons)
Method:
In a saucepan, vigorously whisk the eggs and flour until fully combined. Continuing to whisk, add the cold water slowly.
Place the saucepan over low heat and, while still whisking, slowly add the lemon juice. Continue to cook over low heat, whisking constantly, until the mixture becomes creamy. When it has a thick, silky texture, remove the sauce from the heat.
Add this sauce to recipes that call for it, and use it to finish any dish that you want to have a luscious, lemony kick!
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