Avgolemono Soupa Easy (Greek Egg/Lemon Chicken Soup) This is a streamlined version of the classic soup. ItÂs quick and easy to make yet quite delicious! Soup Preparation: Canned chicken broth (enough to make approximately 8 cups or 64 ounces) ½ onion, chopped finely 1 carrot, peeled and chopped finely 1 celery stalk, chopped finely Salt and pepper to taste 1 bay leaf ¼ teaspoon allspice ½ - 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken meat (optional) ½ - 1 cup white long grain rice 1 tablespoon cornstarch or quick mixing flour (like Wondra) ¼ cup water In large stockpot, bring chicken broth, vegetables, and seasonings to a boil. Lower heat, cover, and simmer for approximately 20 minutes. If using, add chicken meat after 10 minutes and continue cooking for about 10-15 minutes longer. Remove bay leaf. Remove chicken meat, if using, and cut into bite size cubes. Add rice to stock and simmer covered until tender (about 20 minutes). Add the chicken meat, if using, to the stock. Mix cornstarch/flour with water and add to hot soup. Simmer gently for about 5 minutes. Adjust seasonings. Remove pot from heat. Prepare Avgolemono Sauce* and add to soup gradually. *Avgolemono Sauce 1-2 cups hot soup broth 2 eggs Juice from 2 lemons 1 tablespoon cornstarch or quick mixing flour (like Wondra) Mix the cornstarch/flour with the lemon juice and blend well. Beat the eggs well in a bowl. Add the flour and lemon mixture to the eggs and beat well. Slowly add the broth to the egg mixture, little by little (ladle by ladle), while continuing to beat. Pour and mix the Avgolemono Sauce gently into the hot soup and stir well. Serve immediately. Note: To make this even easier and faster, omit the vegetables and chicken! Avgolemono Soupa  Traditional (Greek Egg/Lemon Chicken Soup) This is probably the most famous of the Greek soups. Heartwarming, flavorful, chock full of tender rice, and with a distinct lemon tang. It can serve as the beginning of a special dinner or as a wonderful meal all by itself. Soup Preparation: 1 whole chicken (3-4 pounds) 8 cups water 1 onion, cut into large chunks 2 carrots, peeled and whole 2 celery stalks, cut into large chunks 1 tablespoon salt Pepper to taste 1 bay leaf ¼ teaspoon allspice ½ -1 cup white long grain rice Clean and wash chicken and place in large stockpot (do not use liver). Add water, onion, carrots, celery, salt, and pepper. Bring to boil, skimming off foam that rises to top. Lower heat, cover, and simmer gently over a low heat for 1-1½ hours or until chicken is completely tender. Remove cooked chicken from stock. Remove vegetables from stock. Strain stock and return to stockpot. Add rice to stock and simmer covered until tender (about 20 minutes). Skin and bone cooked chicken meat and cut into bit size pieces (If desired, reserve chicken breast meat for another use). Add the chicken meat to the stock. Adjust seasonings. Remove pot from heat. Prepare Avgolemono Sauce* and add to soup gradually. *Traditional Avgolemono Sauce 1-2 cups hot soup broth 2 eggs Juice from 2 lemons Separate the egg yolks from egg whites. In a large bowl, beat the egg whites until almost stiff. In smaller bowl, beat egg yolks with lemon juice. Gently combine the egg whites with the lemon/yolk mixture. Slowly add the broth to the egg mixture, little by little (ladle by ladle), while continuing to beat. Pour and mix the Avgolemono Sauce gently into the hot soup and stir well. The soup should be slightly thick and foamy. Serve immediately, before froth subsides.

It's called Avgolemono. Our summer neighbors are Greek. My husband loves it when she brings us some of this soup. I'm not so fond of it. Here is a link that might be useful: Here's an easy recipe

Your soup night sounds fab! We did a nod to it being Christmas Eve with a beaded tree for a centerpiece. Ann T., avoid your eyes, and skip the rest. :) Soup was minestrone flavored stone soup. I think the caterer left as much food as was served at our big party, so there were a lot of celery and carrots, grape tomatoes, cauliflower and broccoli left. Those were all diced for the soup, plus a couple of onions, half a head of garlic, some yellow vine tomatoes, a bag of baby kale and a white cabbage. So I didn't have to go down to the garage, the base was what I had in the kitchen freezer. That's three cups of low FODMAP chicken stock and three cups of beefy cabbage soup. I added a can of crushed tomatoes, a small can of fire roasted, and a smaller can of tomato sauce, plus vegetarian no-MSG bouillion and a little jarred soup base, for the salt. :) Some pepper, Tabasco (because I was too tired to clean serrano peppers from the garden) and mostly red wine. The starter was salmon salad made from the cranberry mustard salmon skewers leftover, broken up and dressed with what I think was the remoulade from the fried chicken drummettes. It had separated, and was a thick mayonnaise consistency and very herby, with a good acid sharpness that went well with the fish (which hadn't gone fishy). That was served with the leftover tortilla chips and relishes: baby corn, spiced baby carrots, pickle chips, raddishes and mixed olives. I also made some kale chips for something light. :) The soup was served alongside a leftovers casserole: a layer of latkes on the bottom (I thought they'd make it easier to serve but they fell apart), then layers of jewel rice, butternut curry, chopped broccoli, then filled with a bread pudding made from dry, bready donut holes, a (new) pretzel baguette, the chicken from the drummettes, the Moroccan beef cubes from another skewer, a couple of sundried tomato chicken sausages I had in the fridge to add more meat, and a couple of (new) leeks sautéed with a packet of small diced pancetta. There was cinnamon on the donut holes, the flavor of which came up more in the custard than it had on the donuts, but it went well with the garlic pepper I seasoned it with. Dessert was a tarte made from a sheet of frozen puff pastry that needed using. It was brushed with leftover passion fruit sauce, topped with leftover crème anglaise, and leftover fruit. :) There were also everybody's favorite freshly baked Toll House cookies from the Toll House cookie expert and party colored Dutch chocolate half dollars (leftover). The pudding casserole could have been improved upon (custard in the bottom layer under the curry to glue it together--the curry was a rich paste so I thought it would do the job, but it just softened everything--and cut up the donut holes smaller so they'd stick better), but everyone liked it and ate well of it. I heard a few "stuffed"'s. :) My fridges heaved sighs of relief to see so many containers removed! Most of all, we had a delightful evening with loved ones who couldn't be at the big party.

I realize I didn’t write up my Avgolemono soup results. I have made it several times now. So far no curdled eggs. I have read a bunch of recipes. Tonight I winged it and it is my favorite so far. First significant snow of the season is coming tonight. This morning I still had firewood to stack and various summer flotsam and jetsam to move undercover. I came in tired, sore, damp and cold. Decided to whip up a quick soup for dinner. So this version wasn’t following a recipe. Just frozen stock and chicken and whatever veggies I had on hand - celeriac, carrots, potatoes, onions, peppers, kale and parsley. I really like adding the freshness of lemon and the ‘creaminess’ of eggs.