Easter will be upon us very soon and some of us are
making plans to have a family lunch. With the weather not too warm, we thought
a soup might be a great dish to start the meal. We love this light lemony
Chicken based soup which is often served at holidays or celebrations in Greece.
It is not difficult to make
Using a whole fresh chicken makes all the difference. This
makes 6 - 8 Servings
1 whole organic chicken, innards removed, 1.5 kg
approx - water – 2 carrots, roughly chopped – 2 celery stalks, roughly chopped
– 1 onion, roughly chopped – 2 bay leaves – 5 black peppercorns – 1 t salt –
half a cup rice or orzo rice shaped pasta (optional) – 3 fresh eggs, at room
temperature – juice of 2 lemons, strained – zest of one lemon – salt and
freshly ground black pepper – chopped parsley or a herb of your choice
Trim all the excess fat off the chicken, put
into a large pot with the vegetables and add enough water to cover the chicken
by 5 cm. Bring to a simmer and cook for 1½ hours. Take out the
chicken, remove the meat and set aside for use later. Strain the stock to
remove the vegetables and skim off any fat
Add the rice or orzo pasta, if using, and cook until
tender
While the rice or orzo is cooking, whisk the eggs in a
separate bowl until very frothy, then add the lemon juice to the egg in a thin
stream while you continue whisking
Put 2 ladlefuls of the hot soup stock into a separate
bowl, then slowly add the egg and lemon mixture. This will help to prevent the soup
curdling. (Do not add the hot soup to
the eggs). Put the egg and lemon soup mixture back into the rest of the soup
and heat gently. Do not boil once
the egg has been added
Taste and adjust seasoning to your own taste, then
sprinkle on the lemon zest and some parsley before you serve
Traditionally, this soup is served without the chicken meat or vegetables. We like to add some of the chicken to each bowl. You can always use them in another recipe
The instructions seem to read that when removing excess fat from the chicken this is used to make the soup. I presume the excess fat is skin etc and is not used in the recipe but am I right?
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