Lemon Orzo Soup with Chicken

April 15, 2016 Ceri

I’m so happy to be posting a new recipe with shots from the lovely Maya Visnyei! It’s been way too long. We’ve been hard at work on our cook book for the past few months and that meant we had to take a break from our typical photography/recipe production schedule. But we shot the cook book’s cover — actually we shot three versions and don’t know yet ourselves which will make the cut! — two weeks ago. And then on Monday we received the best email ever from our editor announcing that our manuscript is complete. Of course we’ll still have plenty to do with copy editing and the design process but the really heavy lifting is done! It was an amazing (and bizarre and fun and exasperating and hilarious) experience and I wish we could share the results with you all sooner.

But I confess it’s nice to get back into the groove and direct those energies back into the site. I spent a day with Maya last week and I know Laura is doing the same thing this week so there’s lots of good stuff coming your way. First up: soup! This is probably the easiest soup I’ve ever made and although it’s hearty enough to be dinner, the fresh, lemon-y flavour keeps it light. I’ve made this soup twice in the last week and I think I ate most of both batches! The kids were a bit skeptical but both tried it and had about half a bowl which I’m going to call a great success. Based loosely on the Greek soup called Avgolemono, my version adds chicken to make it more of a meal. The only trick is to be sure you temper your eggs before adding them to the broth s0 it becomes creamy not curdled. But really, it’s simple pimple. I still have half a bag of orzo in the cupboard, I think I may have to make this again.…

photos by Maya Visnyei

Ingredients

8 cups of low-sodium chicken stock
1 cup orzo
1/2 lb of skinless, boneless chicken breast, chopped into bite-sized pieces
3 eggs
1/3 cup of lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste
small handful of parsley, chopped

Method

In a large pot, bring your stock to a boil. Add the orzo and reduce heat just slightly so simmers for 10 minutes.

Now add the chicken to the pot with the stock and orzo and simmer for 10 more minutes.

While that's cooking away, crack your eggs into a bowl and whisk in the lemon juice. Using a ladle, scoop out some hot broth and add small of stream of hot stock to your egg mixture while whisking. Add as much hot stock as it takes to really warm up the egg so it won't scramble in the soup.

Now pour your egg mixture into your soup pot.

Both the pasta and the egg will thicken up your soup.

Cook for another 2 or 3 minutes or until it thickens slightly

Taste it before adding salt and pepper.

Serve with a sprinkle of chopped parsley.

If you have leftovers and have this soup again the following day you'll need to thin them out with more stock or water as the orzo will continue to thicken the soup.

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