Avgolemono Soup

We don't tend to have many cold, much less rainy nights in San Diego. So when we do, I love to make soup. I don't know if it is because of my Minnesota roots or because I really like soup. Whatever the reason, I was craving Lemon Chicken Orzo soup from one of my favorite fast food Greek restaurants, Daphne's. I decided to try my hand at making it at home for once and it turned out perfectly.

This avgolemono soup is rich and creamy with just a hint of lemon juice and it is so easy to make, just make sure that you keep whisking so that you don’t end up with scrambled egg soup!

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Avgolemono Soup

Recipe

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 45 minutes

Ingredients

• olive oil

• 6 cups chicken stock

• 3 large eggs

• 1 cup cooked and shredded chicken breast

• 4 large carrots, diced to bite size

• 4 celery stalks, diced to bite size

• 1/2 onion, diced small

• 1.5 cups orzo pasta

• 1/4 cup lemon juice

• 1/4 tsp Tarragon

• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Dice your carrots, celery and onion into small bite size pieces.

2. Add some olive oil into a pan and sauté your carrots, celery and onion. About 5 minutes on a medium heat. Add some salt and pepper to taste while cooking. Turn to low heat and cover.

3. While you are sautéing the vegetables, bring your chicken stock to a boil in a large stock pot.

4. Once the chicken stock is boiling, add your Orzo and cook until al dente.(cooked to be firm to the bite)

5. While the Orzo is cooking, whisk together lemon juice and eggs.

6. When the Orzo is al dente, ladle out one cup of the chicken broth and start adding 1 tablespoon at a time to the egg/lemon juice mixture, whisking the mixture the whole time (so you don't end up with egg soup)

7. Once all of the broth has been added (one cup), slowly pour the egg/lemon juice/broth mixture back into the pot of broth, whisking constantly. Turn on low heat and cover.

8. Add your cut chicken breast into a skillet with some olive oil and start to cook, adding your tarragon, salt and pepper. Make sure the chicken is cooked all the way through and then shred the chicken. (you can take two forks to "shred" the chicken)

9. Add your sautéed vegetables and shredded chicken into the stockpot and simmer until the soup has thickened, about 3-5 minutes.

10. Serve hot and enjoy!