Food

Hey Guys,

This post is little bit of a throwback to old school blogging. We didn’t write essays back then. We just kind of wrote letters telling you about our life and what happened that week and then oh, look here’s a soup I made, with the recipe.

So hi. There’s a soup recipe down below and it’s the coziest bowl of comfort that I make these days. I bet you’ll like it.

Today it snowed. Last week it snowed too. I have a tradition with my kids about the first snowfall every year. The first time actual flakes fall from the sky while we are awake (waking up to snow doesn’t count) I make them cups of homemade hot chocolate with whipped cream. We top it with sprinkles if we have it, but this year we didn’t.

The kids enjoying their hot chocolate 

I make simple cocoa on the stove top. I just fill mugs with milk and add splashes of heavy cream (about 3 tablespoons each mug) and then dump it all into a pot. For each cup of milk I add 1 1/2 tablespoons cocoa powder, 1 1/2 tablespoon sugar, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, and a tiny pinch of salt. Then I whisk everything together over medium heat until hot. I divide the hot cocoa back into each of the mugs and top with whipped cream. I make whipped cream from scratch mostly, but for hot chocolate we just get the stuff in a can.

I also got my nails painted red this week too. Nothing like a little cranberry red to usher in the fall season. Fall = when it snows here. Fall/winter mixed. Red works for both, I figure.

I’m currently watching my nephews so their parents can sneak away for a quick trip to NYC. It’s loud and exciting here. There are donuts on the counter and Jurassic World  on the TV. I’m blogging and drinking a cup of sleepy time tea. It’s a great Sunday.

My puppies are getting huge! Did you know we got puppies? Two French Bulldogs. Aren’t they just the cutest?

We named the white one Star Lord, which is a Guardians of the Galaxy reference and the black one is Norma Jean. Everyone thinks the white one is Norma Jean because the white one is more beautiful and photogenic.

I’m not being rude, it’s just the truth.

Here look, this is Star Lord:

He’s a stud.

Now here’s Norma Jean:

She’s just never quite as beautiful in pictures. I’m not even picking bad pictures, you guys, she just always looks like this. She never looks at the camera. She relaxes into a shapeless lump when you hold her. It’s so funny.

Oh, and hey, here’s that soup I was telling you about. It’s Avgolemono, a traditional Greek soup thickened with eggs, which makes it looks all creamy despite not having cream. It’s lemony and thick, full of chicken and fat rice. It’s what we make instead of chicken noodle. Th little bit of dill on top absolutely makes the dish. My husband disagrees. I said this one time and he responded “no it doesn’t. I just had a bowl without the dill and it was delicious. The dill doesn’t MAKE it.” Whatever. You tell me and report back. Dill or no dill, it’s so, so yummy.

Avgolemono Soup

Serves 6

Ingredients:

• Olive oil
• 4 stalks celery, chopped small
• 1 yellow onion, chopped small
• 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 8 cups chicken broth (see note)
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 cup arborio rice
• Salt and pepper
• A 4-5lb whole chicken, shredded (see note)
• 1/2 cup freshly-squeezed lemon juice
• 4 large eggs, plus one egg yolk
• Fresh dill for garnish

*for chicken and chicken stock, you can always just buy cartons of stock and a rotisserie chicken from your local store, but I always make mine as home. I have two methods, One is slower, one is fast. Either 1) I boil a whole chicken in water with a quartered onion, a couple whole carrots and celery sticks, peppercorns and a head of garlic cut in half AND PLENTY OF SALT for an hour until the chicken is cooked through and tender, and then I remove the chicken until it’s cool enough to shred, strain the stock into a bowl and use that for my broth OR 2) I place the whole chicken in a pressure cooker with 2 1/2 cups of water and cook on high for 26 minutes. When it’s done, I set the chicken aside until cool enough to shred and I strain the water from the pressure cooker into a bowl and use that as part of my stock (you’ll need to add salt to the whole soup later). If you employ this method you’ll have three cups of liquid for your soup and you’ll only need to add 5 more cups of stock. I typically use water and better than bullion when I do this method. 

In a large soup pot heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat. Add the carrots and onions and sauce until tender, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and sauce for another minute. Add the chicken broth, bay leaves, shredded chicken and 2  teaspoons salt. Bring to a boil, then cover the pot with a lid and turn the heat down and simmer for one to two hours (this is to make sure the chicken gets very tender).

About 30 minutes before serving, add rice. When the rice is cooked, prepare the egg-lemon sauce. In a large bowl, whisk together the lemon juice and eggs and egg yolk. While whisking add three ladlefuls of hot broth from the soup slowly (this tempers the eggs and ensures they don’t curdle when added to the hot soup pot). Once fully combined, add the sauce to the chicken soup and stir for a minute until it’s thickened. Remove from he heat—you don’t want it to boil too much once the eggs have been added— and eat immediately.

Garnish with dill and a few grinds of freshly ground black pepper.

I just realized that upon reading this recipe it might sound like more steps than you’d like, but I promise, if you make it once you get it and it’s really easy the next time. It’s one of my go-to dishes.