blue artichoke

I happen to like bad weather. Sure, the sun is nice and everything, but I need variety, which is why I did not appreciate my time spent living in Colorado. Of course, I finally move out of there and lo and behold, it starts snowing like mad. Two blizzards in one week??? Crazy!!!

Anyway, today, New Year's Eve's Eve, it snowed in Boston. Yay! And in honour of such an occurence I made soup for lunch. Avgolemeno soup, actually, which is a Greek soup my mom makes. Avgolemeno means egg-lemon, so it's fairly self-explanatory.

My sister and I called it "Kissy Soup" because of the kissing sounds one is supposed to make while cooking. Supposedly it is done to keep the eggs from curdling as the lemons are added and then the hot broth added to the egg mixture. Either way, it's fun... bring the kids into the kitchen for a few minutes and everyone can stand around making kissing sounds. Alternatively, bring in a spouse or whomever your seeing (or an exceptionally good friend), and make out a little while cooking.

That's the way the recipe goes! I'm not making it up!

It's easy, but perhaps a little time-consuming. I'll also say that it's an acquired taste. But when you're looking for a soup and want something "different," give it a try. Oh, and you could very well have all the ingredients handy.

Oh, and it cures all your ailments. A bit like chicken noodle soup, it makes you feel good. Well, it does for me, but that could just be years of my mom making avgolemeno soup instead of chicken noodle.

Avgolemeno Soup (Greek Kissy Soup)

8 cups chicken broth (pareve bouillon cubes if you want it to be kosher, remember, or vegetable broth)
1 ½ cups rice
5 eggs
½ cup lemon juice – (3 large squeezed lemons, strained)
dash of water
Pepper to taste (I use quite a bit)

Bring broth & water to boil, add rice, boil 20 minutes.

Remove from heat.

Beat eggs, dash of water in a large bowl.

Next, add lemon juice to eggs, slowly a little at a time, constantly beating lemon-egg mixture; kiss the air (or whoever is in the kitchen) as you add in the lemon juice to keep the soup from curdling.

Then, very slowly add hot broth to egg mixture. As you add broth to egg mixture also kiss to prevent curdling. Add about ¼ - ½ c of broth to eggs at a time, until the egg mixture is very warm. Return warm egg-broth mixture to cooking pot and stir into broth & rice in pot.

Let rest for about 5-10 minutes off the heat before serving, this allows the soup to thicken slightly. If you should need to re-heat soup, start heating on low, and be patient. Keep a constant eye on it, but it does reheat nicely. Do not microwave.

Getting to Know All About You: Any plans for New Year's Eve?