YIELDS:
4 servings
PREP TIME:
0 hours 15 mins
COOK TIME:
0 hours 20 mins
TOTAL TIME:
0 hours 35 mins
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INGREDIENTS
For the soup:
1 Tbsp. Patricia and Paul Gremolata Olive Oil
1 Cup carrots, finely chopped
1 Cup celery, chopped
1 Cup onion, finely chopped
2 Garlic cloves, finely minced
6 Cups homemade chicken stock or good quality store-bought
2 Bay leaves
1 1/2 Cups whole wheat orzo
Kosher Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1/2 Cup lemon juice, freshly-squeezed
2 Large eggs
For the gremolata:
1/2 Cup Fresh parsley leaves
1/4 Cup Fresh celery leaves
1 Tbsp. Lemon zest
1 Small clove garlic, finely minced
DIRECTIONS
1) In a dutch oven, add a teaspoon of Patricia and Paul Gremolata Olive Oil. Add the carrots, onion and celery and stir to combine. Let cook a couple of minutes to soften the veggies. Add the garlic and stir into the mix. Let cook one minute until fragrant. Add the bay leaves and stir into the veggies.
2) Add the chicken stock and simmer. When you have a gentle simmer, add the lemon juice and orzo and cook for 10 minutes stirring occasionally. Taste. Add salt and pepper to taste.
3) While the soup is cooking, remove a cup of the chicken broth from the pot and put in a glass measuring cup. Let cool while you make the gremolata.
4) Chop all the gremolata ingredients very fine and put in a bowl until ready to serve.
5) Right before serving, add the eggs to the reserved, cooled broth and beat with a fork. Add it back to the soup in the dutch oven. Stir it into the soup.
6) Stir for a few seconds and remove from the heat. Ladle the soup into bowl and top with some of the gremolata.
NOTES: This Avgolemono Soup with Gremolata is a Greek classic. Basically a Greek orzo lemon soup, it gets an amazing creaminess from the eggs added at the end. I compare this to the Italian Stracciatella soup or the Chinese egg drop soup. All use a delicious chicken broth to start and both whip in some eggs. Obviously, everyone is in on this secret and now you are too.
A couple of notes about the soup. This is a light broth type soup that has a very distinct lemon flavor. I didn’t add any chicken to this soup but you can definitely add up to two cups of shredded rotisserie chicken. That addition would give you a Greek lemon chicken orzo soup that I would consider a meal. You could also make a vegan avgolemono by using vegetable stock or broth instead of the chicken stock, and of course, omitting the chicken. So, you have a few options with this recipe.
I used a specialty gremolata infused olive oil which just adds to the flavor of the soup. If you don’t have it, feel free to use regular olive oil and the soup will come out just fine.
If you are using store-bought chicken stock or broth, buy the low-sodium variety and then season to taste. I find the regular brands to be too salty.
I used whole wheat orzo, but regular orzo will work just fine. You could even substitute rice but orzo is more authentic to Greek cooking.
This is a very fast and easy soup to make if you already have your homemade chicken stock done (or if you are using store-bought stock).
To get started, simply add the olive oil to a large soup pot or dutch oven. Add the chopped onion, carrots and celery and stir. Let cook a couple of minutes until the veggies are translucent. Add the chopped garlic and cook for another minute.
Add in the bay leaves and then the lemon juice and stock. Bring everything to a gently simmer.
Remove a cup of the broth and put to the side to cool.
Add the orzo and let the mixture gently simmer for about 1o minutes until the orzo is cooked.
While the orzo is cooking, chop your parsley and celery leaves and add them to a bowl with the lemon zest and finely minced garlic clove. Stir to mix. This is your gremolata topping for the soup.
Right before serving, add the eggs to that cooled broth and beat with a fork. Add to the soup and stir into the mix. Immediately remove from the heat.
Ladle the soup into soup bowls and top with some of the gremolata. Enjoy.
Looking for other easy and delicious soup recipes? Try these:
Spring Peas, Shrimp and Lobster Soup
Beef, Vegetable and Barley Soup
