Avgolemono Soup (Greek Egg and Lemon Soup)

A bit of a shorter post today to the usual lengthy ramblings I tend to subject you to here on the Greek Vegetarian blog. With only 8 days to go before Tony and I leave for Greece, it's been a bit hectic trying to get everything organised before we leave, and our efforts to reduce our respective piles of work have left us feeling a bit frazzled!

And it's not just the craziness of work. The weather this week has been totally crazy too. The wind outside is so violent the trees are almost spinning around, and the rain is hurtling directly at my window. Birds are struggling to fly forward, showers of debris are landing in our back yard, and I could have sworn I just saw a branch torpedoing across the sky.

The mountain of work on my desk at the moment would form a spectacular tornado if I were to toss it outside right now. Please, can I do that? Oh what I would do to have no work in this final week before we leave for Greece!

Melbourne's current blast of revolting winter weather is perfect for one thing only: Soup. And oh, didn't I say a few days ago that my next post would be a soup? Well how about that :)

Avgolemono (meaning egg and lemon in Greek) is the name used to describe both a sauce and a soup. The soup is made with rice, the sauce without. Both the soup and sauce are often served with poached chicken or fish, but today's recipe is Avgolemono soup in its simplest form – meatless and delicious.

Light and frothy with a lemony tang, Avgolemono soup is surprisingly heart-warming on a freezing cold day. There are only four ingredients in vegetarian Avgolemono soup – eggs, lemon, vegetable stock and rice – and it's quick and fun to prepare, so let's go!

Avgolemono Soup (Greek Egg and Lemon Soup)

Serves 4–6

Ingredients

• 6 cups vegetable stock
• 1/2 cup long grain white rice
• 2 eggs, separated
• 1/2 cup lemon juice

Instructions

1. Bring the stock to the boil and add rice. Simmer until tender.
2. Meanwhile, beat eggs whites until soft peaks form.
3. Slowly add lightly beaten egg yolks, continuing to beat at high speed.
4. With beater still running, drizzle lemon juice into egg mixture, then add a cup or so of the hot stock to temper the eggs. Try not to let too much rice fall into the egg mixture at this stage.
5. Transfer the egg mixture into the pot of stock and rice, and stir until combined. To retain a frothy top layer, don't over stir the mixture.
6. Serve immediately with a generous grinding of freshly cracked black pepper.