# Chicken and Garlic Soup

**Chef:** Sahil  
**Cookbook:** Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat  
**Potluck Date:** November 18, 2023  

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## Recipe

Chicken soup with avgolemono
Every culture around the world has a restorative chicken soup. For Greeks it
is kotosoupa avgolemono. I cannot think of a more comforting dish than this
one. The creaminess here is due to the rice, which should be rich in starch,
and the egg and lemon sauce, avgolemono, which also gives it a nice velvety
texture. It is a soup enjoyed in Greece throughout winter, and my grandmother
Rena, who was a master of this soup, always made it on New Year’s Day.
It is traditionally served as a thick broth with the rice in it, with the left-
over boiled chicken often used for a chicken pie. I like to also add carrot and
courgette (zucchini) for flavour and texture, but you can play around with
different vegetables. I always buy a high-quality chicken, preferably organic
or free-range: they have less fat and are full of flavour.
SERVES 4–6
1 x 1.8–2kg (4–4½lb) chicken, cut into 6 pieces
1 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, peeled and halved
1 small leek, roughly chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled
1 large celery stick, trimmed and roughly chopped
2 bay leaves
6 black peppercorns
3–4 sprigs of thyme
1 small tomato
80ml (3fl oz) dry white wine
1.5 litres (56fl oz) hot water
2 large carrots, diced
120g (4oz) medium-grain white rice, such as glacé (glutinous)
2 small courgettes (zucchini), diced
2 eggs, at room temperature
Finely grated zest of 1 small lemon and juice of 2
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp chopped spring onions (scallions), including the green part (optional),
to serve

Wash the chicken well, pat dry and set aside. (Keep the giblets for another
time.)
Place a large, heavy pan over a medium-high heat. Add the olive oil and
gently sauté the onion, leek, garlic, celery, bay leaves, peppercorns and
thyme for about 8 minutes, stirring, until softened. Add the chicken, turning
the pieces until slightly browned all over. Add the tomato (whole) and pour
in the wine. Season with salt and pour in the water. Cover, reduce the heat to
medium-low and simmer for 50–60 minutes until the chicken is thoroughly
cooked.
Transfer the chicken to a platter and let it cool. Remove the skin and
bones, then shred or cut the meat into small pieces.
Strain the broth and pour it back into the pot. Return it to the stovetop, turn
the heat up to medium-high and adjust the salt if necessary. Add the carrots
and bring to the boil. When it starts boiling, reduce the heat to medium and
add the rice. Let it boil for 10 minutes, then finally add the courgettes. Boil
for another 10 minutes until the veggies and rice are cooked.
Remove the pan from the heat. Ladle about 200ml (7fl oz) of broth through
a sieve into a jug (pitcher) and set aside. Separate the eggs into two bowls.
Beat the yolks with the lemon zest and juice. Whisk the egg whites into a light
meringue (not too stiff). Gradually whisk the egg yolks into the whites until
incorporated (don’t over-whisk).
Carefully and gradually add small amounts of the strained hot soup to the
egg and lemon sauce, whisking constantly. The sauce should look nice and
frothy. Once the soup is all incorporated, pour the mixture into the pot and
stir gently.
Serve the soup with shredded chicken and spring onions (scallions), if
desired, and a grind of black pepper.

Yiouvarlakia, hearty meatball soup
This is one of my favourite Greek comfort dishes. It’s popular all over the
country and is most commonly prepared with egg and lemon sauce, like this
one, or – often during summer – in a tomato-based broth. It was a dish
prepared by Greeks settled in Asia Minor who popularized it in Greece in
the early 1920s, along with several other recipes that greatly shaped what is
called the Urban Athenian Cuisine. What makes the Greek version different
to others is the use of egg and lemon sauce, and the herbs or spices. In parts
of northern Greece and particularly in Naoussa (a famous wine region), this
dish is also known as koukoulia (which means cocoons).
Yiouvarlakia is usually prepared with plain minced (ground) beef or a
combination of half beef, half pork. The sauce here works both as a flavour
enhancer and as a thickener for the broth, giving the soup a lovely creamy
consistency. Good bread is essential when serving this dish – trust me.
SERVES 4–6

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