Chicken Soup
Sep. 15th, 2007 04:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lederhosenI think I might have posted this a couple of years back, but there are worse things than duplicate chicken soup. And down here, at least, it's the right time of year for it. Recipe comes from a Greek SCA friend; IIRC the Greek name for this one is 'Avolemonos'.
Not everybody likes this one - the egg bit isn't to everyone's tastes - but my mother was very fond of it, as indeed am I.
Chicken-Lemon-Egg Soup
Ingredients (this is the one-chicken version, I usually double these quantities):
1 chicken1
Lots of salt
4-6 eggs
2-3 cups rice
Lemon juice (preferably fresh, out of a bottle will do; exact quantity depends a bit on the lemons, but three or four lemons is about right).
Seasonings: Cumin, garlic, onion salt2.
Cooking: Rub the chicken all over with seasonings and about two handfuls of salt - this will probably seem like way too much, but it really does need a lot.
Place the chicken in a pot of water (along with whatever salt and seasonings fell off it) and simmer. This takes about 30-60 minutes; if you scrape it gently with a spoon and the skin comes apart, it's ready.
Remove chicken from pot, add rice to pot. Depending on the rice you may need to keep the heat on a little longer, but I find there's usually enough residual heat in the water to cook the rice without any more heat. Take a mug full of stock from the soup and set it aside for later.
Strip meat from chicken, tear into small strips,eat them as you goplace back in the pot.
Separate egg whites from yolks, but have no fear! This is not one of those recipes that leaves you with a fridge full of unused yolks. Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form, then gently stir in yolks, followed by lemon juice, and that mug of stock.
Bring the soup back to the boil, tip in egg/lemon/stock mixture, fold through, and serve. (The stock stops the egg from coagulating, or something. Don't look at me, I dropped organic chem after first year, I have no idea.)
Notes: The chicken-stripping part can take a while, so I often do that bit the night before and put the pot in the fridge; from there, all you have to do is reheat it while beating and mixing eggs etc.
If you put surplus soup away it'll solidify as the rice sucks up all the water; just add more water when you want to reheat it. The rice also seems to absorb a lot of the lemon juice, so you'll probably want to add more juice. If the initial recipe is too thick, you can reduce the quantities of eggs and rice, but I like it like this - almost a stew.
1. If you're in one of those countries where they put the giblets inside a paper bag inside the chicken, remove this before you start. Boiled paper does not improve the flavour, as MassGather 2002 attendees might remember :-(
2. But not for me, please...
Not everybody likes this one - the egg bit isn't to everyone's tastes - but my mother was very fond of it, as indeed am I.
Chicken-Lemon-Egg Soup
Ingredients (this is the one-chicken version, I usually double these quantities):
1 chicken1
Lots of salt
4-6 eggs
2-3 cups rice
Lemon juice (preferably fresh, out of a bottle will do; exact quantity depends a bit on the lemons, but three or four lemons is about right).
Seasonings: Cumin, garlic, onion salt2.
Cooking: Rub the chicken all over with seasonings and about two handfuls of salt - this will probably seem like way too much, but it really does need a lot.
Place the chicken in a pot of water (along with whatever salt and seasonings fell off it) and simmer. This takes about 30-60 minutes; if you scrape it gently with a spoon and the skin comes apart, it's ready.
Remove chicken from pot, add rice to pot. Depending on the rice you may need to keep the heat on a little longer, but I find there's usually enough residual heat in the water to cook the rice without any more heat. Take a mug full of stock from the soup and set it aside for later.
Strip meat from chicken, tear into small strips,
Separate egg whites from yolks, but have no fear! This is not one of those recipes that leaves you with a fridge full of unused yolks. Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form, then gently stir in yolks, followed by lemon juice, and that mug of stock.
Bring the soup back to the boil, tip in egg/lemon/stock mixture, fold through, and serve. (The stock stops the egg from coagulating, or something. Don't look at me, I dropped organic chem after first year, I have no idea.)
Notes: The chicken-stripping part can take a while, so I often do that bit the night before and put the pot in the fridge; from there, all you have to do is reheat it while beating and mixing eggs etc.
If you put surplus soup away it'll solidify as the rice sucks up all the water; just add more water when you want to reheat it. The rice also seems to absorb a lot of the lemon juice, so you'll probably want to add more juice. If the initial recipe is too thick, you can reduce the quantities of eggs and rice, but I like it like this - almost a stew.
1. If you're in one of those countries where they put the giblets inside a paper bag inside the chicken, remove this before you start. Boiled paper does not improve the flavour, as MassGather 2002 attendees might remember :-(
2. But not for me, please...
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no subject
Date: 2007-09-15 08:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-15 11:42 am (UTC)*CTRL-V*
*snuggle*
no subject
Date: 2007-09-15 11:54 am (UTC)That will make`life interesting...
no subject
Date: 2007-09-15 05:54 pm (UTC)I suppose, after the chicken salt I was introduced to on my last trip down under, I shouldn't be surprised. :)
no subject
Date: 2007-09-15 11:59 pm (UTC)Chicken salt is delicious on chips, although I suspect it's horribly bad for me.
no subject
Date: 2007-09-16 01:10 am (UTC)The chicken salt was pretty good, but definitely up there with beef sausages when it comes to things that remind me that I'm really not at home in Australia.
no subject
Date: 2007-09-16 03:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-16 11:32 pm (UTC)