A Polish Girl's Take on Greek Lemon Chicken Soup (Avgolemono)

Yesterday I started making plain old, boring chicken noodle soup for dinner.  About an hour in, I realized, "I really don't want plain old chicken noodle soup."  So, I ended up doctoring my soup to my own version of Greek Chicken Soup (Avgolemono).  Check it out!

Not so bad for not following a recipe, if I do say so myself!  Here's how I made it:

Ingredients
1-2 lbs chicken backs
12 c. water (approx.)
1 med. onion (chopped)
3 large carrots
3 stalks of celery
1 box acini di pepe pasta (normally you use rice, but this is what I had on hand)
1 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. garlic salt
4-5 bay leaves
10 (approx) whole allspice
1/2 tsp. ground thyme
2 lemons (zested and juiced)
3 eggs

Put chicken backs, onion, celery, carrot, allspice, bayleaves, thyme, carrot and water in a large pot.  Bring to a boil.  Let boil about 20-30 minutes.  Bring down to a simmer.  Simmer for about 2 hours.  While simmering, skim the scum off the surface.  (Nice alliteration, I know.)
Remove from heat.  Once cooled, remove the chicken.  Pick off as much meat as you can from the chicken backs.  About 30-45 minutes before you're ready to serve, add lemon zest, salt and garlic salt and acini di pepe.  Bring to a boil for about 12 minutes. 
While this is boiling, juice the lemons into a bowl.  Add the three eggs, whisking constantly until it is frothy.  Remove about 2 cups of broth from the soup.  Very slowly add the broth to the lemon/egg mixture while whisking constantly.  This will temper the eggs. 
Reduce heat to about medium on the soup.  Add tempered egg mixture to the broth, slowly and stirring constantly.  Heat through for about 20-30 minutes to allow flavors to develop.  Do not allow the soup to go above a simmer or the eggs will curdle. 
I served each bowl as 2 ladles full.  At this serving size, you will get about 11 bowls. 

 

-Kelley-