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It’s just past the middle of October and autumn is in full swing. The weather is unpredictable – often too unpredictable, and it’s time for warm, comforting soups. If you’ve been reading our newsletter you will know that we love soups!
And for many Greeks, the best soup is the soup with avgolemono! What is avgolemono?
The word literally means egg and lemon, and it is exactly that: an egg-lemon mixture that turns any soup into a wholesome, lemony bliss. Lemon is one of the key flavours of Greek cuisine, and avgolemono is perhaps one of the favourite ways to enjoy it.
Many use avgolemono in soups (it’s excellent with a chicken soup!), or in other classic Greek dishes such as lahanodolmades (stuffed cabbage leaves), and of course, in the Easter mageiristsa offal soup.
Avgolemono requires patience and passion, the foundation for any good creation. The technique entails passionately beating the eggs and lemon juice until frothy, and then patiently tempering the mixture by slowly pouring part of your hot soup into the cool egg mixture, so that its temperature slowly rises. That way, avgolemono and soup will be in similar temperatures and their coming together will be peaceful.
In my family, we add a bit of corn-flour to thicken the avgolemono, but you can omit that if you prefer.
Serves 2
2 eggs
2 lemons, juiced (approx.. 6-8 tbsp)
2 tbsp corn-flour (optional)
warm soup of your choice
In a bowl whisk the eggs until very frothy, around 3 minutes. Add the lemon juice and corn-flour (if using) and whisk until combined.
Using a ladle, very slowly add some broth from your soup to the avgolemono, constantly whisking. You should pour a few drops at first, then a few teaspoons at a time, then more as you go along. Use your senses to check the avgolemono’s temperature: dip your finger in, or a spoon and taste it. It’s ready when it’s as hot as your soup.
When the avgolemono and broth have reached the desired temperature, add it to your soup pot and stir for a couple of minutes.
Serve immediately.
