in my kitchen.
For the coldest days of winter, staying warm is my mission.
Sharing with you my ‘secret’ recipe, full of nutrients --protein, fibres, vitamins C, B, D and K between else. Pork vegetable soup with rice, leek, potato & carrot garnished with parsley -I just love parsley- and of course mint and oregano, poached in Avgolemono: egg and lemon soup A la Greca.
Fact: Greek/Cypriot cuisines use herbs i.e. mint and oregano more often than other Mediterranean cuisines along with basil and thyme; and I happen to have a weakness for yiayia’s style food, so voilà! Don’t forget a glass of wine for the cook, cause it takes a while for the vegetables to become soft as a candy!
My personal favourite, Viña Sol, Torres. Classic choice for a white wine. Enjoy!
Preparation time: approx. 30min
Cooking time: 1h
Serves: 5-6 people
Dietary: You can choose between meat/vegan option
Ingredients:
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
4-5 big potatoes, peeled and cubed into 1cm pieces
2 big carrots, peeled and chopped the same size as the potatoes
400g or 2 medium leeks, sliced
425g lean diced pork or chicken, thinly cut in 2cm pieces
100g rice for soup
2 medium lemons
2 large eggs
chicken or vegetables' stock
parsley
salt/freshly ground black pepper
mint
oregano
Begin with chopping all the ingredients. Heat the oil in a large casserole and add the finely chopped meat. Season with mint and oregano. Cook for a couple of minutes before adding the leeks. Mix well, and wait till the meat looses its pink colour before you add the potatoes and the carrots, stirring them all round with a wooden spoon. Cook for 3-4 minutes until starting to soften. Add the rice and the chicken/vegetable stock and bring to the boil. Season with parsley, salt and pepper, then cover and let the vegetables simmer over medium heat for about 30 minutes, until they are tender. Now you reached the most challenging part, the making of avgolemono, meaning mixing raw eggs and lemon to the soup broth without scrambling the eggs. You can achieve that by tempering your egg/lemon mixture. Tempering is the process of adding a small amount of the hot broth to the eggs while whisking vigorously. In this way you slowly increase the temperature of the eggs enough so that you can then add them to the soup without them curdling. Turn off the hob before start tempering and never bring the soup back to a boil once the eggs have been added.
What Is Avgolemono?
Avgolemono actually refers to a Greek sauce made from eggs, lemon, and warm broth. Commonly added to soups for thickening, the sauce is used to dress up everything from roasted vegetables to fish dishes.
