Are you feeling under the weather? There are certainly some horrible colds going around, and they are going around…and around…and around again. This soup is warming, nutritious, easy on the stomach, and quick (as well as gluten-free if you use rice). Please use the best stock you have on hand, this is the perfect time for magic mineral broth or Parmesan broth or your homemade chicken stock (or in a pinch the best commercial stock you can find).

Avgolemono (or Greek Lemon Soup) is a classic Greek dish. Some recipes add cooked chicken at the end, but it’s not necessary. Make this soup with rice or orzo pasta. I prefer rice as it thickens the soup slightly, giving it more body. The snap and snow peas are not a classic part of the recipe. I picked a handful in the garden just before making the soup for lunch. I was lucky to have stock in the freezer and some leftover rice from takeout Chinese. The whole thing took about 15 minutes from start to finish!

Ingredients for Avgolemono soup

Avgolemono (egg and lemon) Soup (2 lunch sized portions or 4 starter portions)

• 4 cups of broth (chicken, vegetarian or Parmesan)
• 1 cup of cooked long grain rice
• 2 eggs
• 2 lemons (juice and zest of one), plus extra juice if needed at the end
• Optional small handful of snap and/or sugar peas – sliced thinly lengthwise
• Sea or kosher salt
• Parsley for garnish

Avgolemono Soup

1. Bring stock to a boil in a saucepan over high heat.
2. Reduce the heat to medium and add the rice to the pot. Cook for about 5 minutes.
3. Add the optional snap/snow peas to the saucepan.
4. Meanwhile in a small bowl whisk the eggs and lemon juice until frothy.
5. Add one cup of hot stock to the eggs, whisking to combine.
6. Transfer the egg/stock mixture back to the saucepan
7. Cook, while stirring for about 2 minutes more. DO NOT LET THE STOCK BOIL AS IT WILL CURDLE THE EGGS.
8. Taste to see if you need some more lemon, the soup should have a definite lemon flavor.
9. Garnish with parsley and serve.

Avgolemono Soup