After sharing my friend’s Greek Meat Stuffing recipe, I realized that I have other Greek-inspired dishes to share. As avgolemono soup is one of my all-time favorites, I must say that the star of this dish is the creamy but cream-less egg-lemon sauce. It seems to bring brightness that should be served in springtime. 🙂
This dish was adapted from The New York Times, contributed by Gabrielle Hamilton. I used chicken stock instead of lamb stock. The author states that it is easier to perfect the rice by cooking it pasta style, in seasoned, boiling water. She also suggests using the delicious sauce with asparagus, roasted salmon, or poached chicken. Nice.
- coarse salt, for cooking rice and for seasoning the sauce
- 1 ¼ cups jasmine or Basmati rice
- 1 cup frozen small peas
- 2 cups homemade brown lamb stock, turkey stock, or chicken stock
- 5 large egg yolks
- ¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 4 scallions, sliced in 1/3-inch rings, on a slight bias
- freshly ground black pepper
- Bring 8 cups of water to a rolling boil. Season lightly with salt.
- Rinse the rice, and pour into boiling water, stirring well to keep grains from clumping. When the water returns to a boil, lower heat a little to a gentle boil, and cook the rice “pasta-style” until just done. (I cooked the rice 8-9 minutes.)
- Drain the rice through a fine-mesh colander, giving it a couple of hearty shakes to remove the last of the water.
- Immediately spread cooked rice out on a sheet pan lined with parchment to cool quickly. Do not pat down or pack the rice — you want it fluffy and to be able to cool and dry quickly.
- Rinse the peas under cool water briefly to remove any frosty crystals.
- Bring the stock to a simmer.
- In a stainless bowl, whisk egg yolks and lemon juice together until fully incorporated.
- In a slow steady stream, while constantly whisking, add half the hot stock into the yolks. Then whisk the egg-lemon mixture back into the remaining stock.
- Return the pot to the stove, and simmer (still whisking constantly so as not to cook the egg too fast and too hard), until the avgolemono sauce is full-bodied, approximately the consistency of buttermilk — a minute or 90 seconds more.
- Stir in the scallions, then the peas, and when they both turn bright green, turn off the heat, and stir in the rice.
- Season to taste with salt and pepper. The rice should be as soupy as risi e bisi (Italian rice and peas) and as creamy as risotto.
thebrookcook 