- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings
It’s pretty simple; in Greek, avgo means egg, and lemono is lemon. This is my very favorite easy, comfort soup. It’s super delicious and easy to prepare. No matter what your ailments, Avgolemono soup comforts the soul.
If you can find the lovely, lemony, flat, sour, tiny, square barley pasta, that’s a bonus. Even better, try the semolina-based Greek pasta called trahana; you’ll be in for a treat. I see it normally only in Mediterranean shops. Actually, I had to smuggle a couple of packets of trahanas back from Montreal. Go try to deport me, Trump!
For someone really under the weather, follow the Emergency Version at the bottom of this page.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon of olive oil
- 1 small white onion, finely chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
- 4 cups of chicken broth
- 1 cup shredded roasted chicken (optional)
- 2 eggs, beaten
- Juice of 2 lemons
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ample freshly crushed black pepper
- 1/2 cup barley pasta, trahanas, orzo, or rice
Instructions
- In a medium pot, warm the oil over medium heat and fry the onion until transparent. Add the chicken broth, salt, and garlic, and bring to a boil.
- Add the pasta and roasted chicken, and cook at a low boil for 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, in a medium-sized bowl, beat eggs, then beat in lemon juice.
- When pasta or rice is cooked, very slowly ladle about half a cup of the hot broth into the egg mixture while whisking constantly. This will temper the eggs and prevent them from cooking.
- Reduce the cooking temperature of the broth to simmer, and slowly return the warmed egg mixture to the pot. Add salt and pepper. Adjust the lemon to taste at this point, and stir.
- If the chemistry is right, the soup should thicken almost instantaneously.
- Otherwise, whisk continuously for up to 7 minutes, or until the soup becomes opaque and thick.
- Serve immediately.
Emergency Version:
- Serves 1
- Boil, covered, 2 tablespoons barley, rice, or orzo, and 1 smashed garlic clove in 2 cups of chicken broth until cooked.
- Meanwhile, beat 1 egg, add the juice of 1 lemon, and whisk until smooth.
- Once the barley, rice, or orzo is cooked, ladle 1/2 cup of the broth into the egg mixture very slowly, while stirring, to temper the mixture and avoid cooking the egg.
- Return the tempered egg mixture to the pot slowly while stirring. The soup should thicken instantly. Add salt and a generous amount of black pepper, to taste.
