Avgolemono Soup

I've got a proud Mamma moment to share: My lemon tree is bursting with lemons!🍋  Sorry kids - I'm proud of you too but you're adults now and fully responsible for keeping yourselves alive.😅  My lemon tree on the other hand, is fully dependent on me for all of it's needs: light, water and nutrients so technically I can claim it as a dependent, right?😂 

Every October I have think of a new way to convince my husband to drag my giant, thorny lemon tree indoors to protect it from the cold.🥶  Having this tree reside in our bedroom all winter is less than ideal.  Getting accidentally stabbed by a thorny branch in the middle of the night while trying to squeeze past on the way to the bathroom is brutal but the fact that it drops nearly all of it's leaves the minute that it's brought indoors - is worse. 😬

Turns out that my lemon tree wasn't dropping leaves as an expression of displeasure about being indoors.  It was dropping leaves because it was being deprived of light.☀️ I feel like a bit of a slow learner because it took over 10 years of lemon growing for me to figure out that all my tree needed to thrive in the winter was a grow light.🤦🏻‍♀️  Sure, it looks like I've got a weed farm in my bedroom but my lemon tree is happy and healthy.🪴 

I've been having the best time trying to come up with the perfect ways to use my home grown Meyer lemons.🍋  I have no idea how to pronounce the name of this chicken and rice soup with a bright, lemon broth but I CAN tell you that it's delicious. 😋

Avgolemono Soup
3 pounds chicken thighs
2 onions, chopped
2 stalks celery, sliced
1 carrot, sliced
2 bay leaves
2 1/4 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon oregano
3 quarts cold water
2 Tablespoons olive oil
2/3 cup Arborio rice
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon pepper
​pinch cayenne
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice

Put chicken, 1 chopped onion, celery, carrot, bay, 2 t. salt and oregano in pot. 

Add cold water and bring to a boil. 

Reduce heat and simmer 90 minutes until chicken is falling off the bone. 

Transfer chicken to a bowl to cool.  Strain broth and return to pot. 

Pull chicken from bones and shred.  

Heat oil in skillet and add 1 onion.  Cook until softened.  Sprinkle with 1/4 t. salt.

Stir onion and rice into broth. Simmer 45 minutes until rice is tender.

Whisk together eggs, pepper and cayenne.  Whisk in lemon juice. 

​Whisk hot broth into egg mixture, 1 cup at a time. 

Add back to pot and add chicken.  Cook until warmed through. 

Ciao!

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