Greek Easter Preparations, practice

• Recipes discussed:
• Avgolemono (Greek egg and lemon soup)
• Sauteed portabellos over tossed salad w. vinaigrette
  

For practice, I made a pot of avgolemono for dinner last night. I reviewed 25-30 recipes online and then developed the recipe shown. It should scale up easily. I only made enough for Nancy and me with a cup left over.

In addition, I sauteed a couple of large portabello mushroom on the griddle, in butter and olive oil, with salt and pepper. Then I made a salad with juilienne of 1/2 sweet red pepper, 3-4 tb. julienne of daikon, a few small spinach leaves, washed, some red leaf lettuce, salt and pepper scattered over, all tossed together with a vinaigrette of lemon juice and fruity olive oil. I also sliced up and cut in half the slices of 1/2 a sweet onion, then sliced the sauteed mushrooms on one side of a plate with the salad, then tossed over all the onion crescents and then a bit more vinaigrette over all. A nice taste treat after the delicious and rich soup. We had a bottle of nice chardonnay along with all and enjoyed the beautiful evening on our deck by candellight.

Avgolemono (Greek Lemon Chicken Soup)

What I actually did. I've been asked to provide this soup for a Greek Easter feast on 1 May, 2005, which is the date this year.

Serves 2–3

* 3 cups Vegetarian Stock (see below) - I started with two quarts of water, resulting in 6 cups of stock after removing and squeezing vegetables. As I was only making soup for two, I only used 3 cups and reserved the rest. Can be doubled or more for larger group.

Vegetarian Stock
* 2 onion, peeled and chopped plus greens, if any
* 2 small carrots, scrubbed and chopped
* 2 small white potatoes, peeled and chopped
* 1/2 lb chopped white mushrooms
* 1/2 tsp celery seed
* 1 bay leaf
* 4 green cardamom pods, crushed
* chopped stems from 12 parsley or cilantro
* 1-2 tbsp minced rosemary, other herbs - thyme, e.g.
* 2 whole cloves
* 2-inch stick cinnamon
* pinch of cayenne
* 4 medium allspice pods
* 6-8 black peppercorns, mildly crushed in mortar along with allspice
* Zest from 1 1/2 medium lemons - reserve 1 tbsp for later
* pinch saffron, if available
* 1/2 teaspoon salt

Rice or Orzo
* 1/2 cup long grain rice basmati; could use 1/2 - 1 c. orzo

Lemon & Eggs
* 2 large eggs at room temperature
* 1/2 of 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

* 1/2 stick butter
* Nutmeg -- ground - a pinch to add at the end.

Garnish
* 2 TB finely chopped parsley
* 1 large scallion, sliced thin, and 3 tablespoons chopped fresh mint leaves
* salt and pepper to taste
* thin slices lemon for garnish as needed for each serving

Instructions:

1. Make stock and heat to boiling.
- Melt butter in heavy bottomed soup pot over medium heat, then add olive oil. Saute spices in butter and olive oil: cardamom, allspice, cloves, peppercorns lightly crushed in mortar, one 2-inch stick cinnamon. Then sweat add onions, carrots, mushrooms, potatoes and herbs - rosemary, thyme, stems of coriander and/or parsley - for 10-15 min.
- Pour in two quarts hot water. Add bay leaf and salt. Bring to a simmer. Add lemon zest, and a pinch of cayenne and a hint (about 1/8 teaspoon) saffron threads, crushed between fingertips, to stock. Gently simmer over low heat for 15-20 minutes. Set aside. Strain stock and return to boil.

2. Cook rice or orzo
- Add rice and gently simmer for 20 minutes, until soft but not falling apart.

3. Remove from heat and set aside.
- This is an essential step, as the stock must be off the boil before coming with egg-lemon broth to prevent curdling eggs.

4. Prepare egg - lemon
- In a bowl, beat egg whites until stiff; add yolks and beat well.
- in a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks and lemon juice together until a little frothy.
- Combine yolk-lemon mixture with egg whites.

5. Combine stock and egg-lemon mix.
- Add about 1/2 of the warm, not hot, broth with the egg-lemon mix, beating continuously. Then add another cup of the stock, very slowly, whisking while you pour it in.
- Pour this mixture back into the pot of stock and rice. Whisk until nicely combined. It should look like the stock has become cloudy, with a nice skim of thin froth.
- Heat lightly until some steam appear, four or five minutes, but do not simmer or boil.
- Add 2 tbsp butter now and let it melt, if using.

6. Keep warm over heat. To avoid curdling, do not allow soup to come to a boil.


7. SERVE
- Season with salt and peppe to taste. Sprinkle with sliced scallions, minced parsley and mint. Dish up among serving bowls, adding a thin slice of lemon to each serving. Serve with warm bread on side. Goes well with chardonnay or sauvignon blanc - think Sancerre.