Greek Spring Soup
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Greek Spring Soup is a heartier version of Greek Avgolemono soup. With a creamy broth and tender Spring vegetables, it’s warm and comforting.
I’ve been absent. This is the longest I’ve gone, since I started my blog nearly 2 years ago, without posting. Those who follow me on Facebook, know that just 2 weeks ago I lost a student of mine in a tragic accident. He was hit by a car while crossing the street with his father.
It knocked the wind out of me. More than I thought it would. I cannot imagine how parents who lose their children cope on a daily basis. He was “my” boy for 6 hours a day, for 120 days. I shouldn’t say this, because teachers aren’t meant to have favorites, but he was my favorite. He was a quiet, gentle soul, with big, dark, sparkling eyes. He was patient, more patient than any five year old I’ve ever known. You might miss him in a crowd, because he didn’t have a ‘big’ personality, he was bright, yet shy and modest.
But I gravitated towards him…I wanted to make sure he was heard, over all the loud and impatient students, who usually get noticed first. I know he liked me too…I could see his eyes shine when he looked at me, and his mom told me he was thrilled when I shortened his name, “Ernesto”, first to Ernie, then just to “Ern”.
I was connected to the family as well. Of the three families, and five cousins at my school, I taught four kids. Ernie’s aunt asked me to sit with the family at the funeral, and to speak about him. “Please tell everyone, no black! Dodger blue!” And so I wore Dodger Blue, and spoke about Ernie. It was all at once, the easiest and most difficult eulogy I’ve ever had to deliver.
I didn’t cook much that week. I’d come home from school and crawl into bed and sleep. My husband and kids still wanted to eat. I left them to forage, because I wasn’t hungry. There were left-overs…In-N-Out Burger’s right down the street. They’d survive. They did.
Last weekend, I started cooking again. But all I wanted was comfort food. Creamy and cheesy or soupy and warm. One of Sophie’s favorite soups is Greek Avgolemono Soup, Chicken Soup with Egg and Lemon, from our local Greek restaurant. The weather was overcast, matching how I was feeling inside. So I decided we needed soup…Soup and tea cures just about everything!
Real Avgolemono Soup is just rich, homemade chicken broth, chicken, lemon, egg and dill. I always tweak and add more vegetables to just about anything I make, and this Greek Spring soup is no exception. Using a big bunch of asparagus, my favorite vegetable, along with carrots and onions.
So, I call this Greek Spring Soup, because that what it feels and tastes like.
Greek Spring Soup
Ingredients
- 6 cups chicken broth homemade or canned
- 1 1/2 cups diced or shredded cooked chicken
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 1 small onion diced about 3/4 cup
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/3 cup arborio rice
- 1 large eggs
- Juice of half of a lemon
- 1 cup chopped asparagus
- 1 cup diced carrots
- 1/2 cup of fresh chopped dill divided
- Kosher salt and fresh pepper to taste
- Fresh minced chives for garnish
Instructions
- In a large stock pot, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat. Sauté onions until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add 1/4 cup dill, chicken broth, bay leaf and bring to a boil.
- Add rice and reduce heat to medium low, and simmer about 10 minutes. Add carrots and asparagus and cook an additional 10-15 minutes, or until rice is cooked and vegetables are tender. Add chicken and continue to simmer on low while preparing egg and lemon juice mixture.
- Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, combine egg, lemon juice and 2 tablespoons of water.
- Slowly whisk about half a cup of the hot stock into the egg mixture, stirring constantly, to keep eggs from curdling.
- Slowly whisk the egg/lemon broth back into the stock pot. Soup will thicken slightly. Turn off heat and remove bay leaf.
- Add remaining fresh dill, and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.
Looking for more comforting soups?
Winter Soup with Tortellini and Pistou
Some of the items I used for this post. (This is an affiliate link of which I make a small percentage, at no additional cost to you which helps off-set the cost of running this site. Thank you!)
I just stumbled onto your blog (a friend posted it on FB) and I wanted to say, as a teacher I can totally imagine your pain. Although I teach 5th grade now I used to teach kindergarten and I can’t imagine losing one during the year, like you did. You’re their surrogate mother at that age. So sad for you and Ernie’s family. Hugs.
Thank you Lori, yes, they are “my kids” for 180 days. Hard not to get attached! Welcome!
Welcome back. What a difficult experience. Be good to your self and try to eat properly and get plenty of sleep. Has Emma made her college choice yet? Our Duncan got his first (and as he always added second, third and fourth) choice of Olin College in Neeham, MA. It’s an Engineering school only and they took 76 out of an original 800 applicants. He also got his “official” second choice of Johns Hopkins. Olin is next to Babson and near Wellesley and they can use either school for non-engineering courses. After 4 years at Prep School in Hawaii, he’ll really feel the cold but then he’s young. Hang in there.
Thanks Jeanne! Yes, Emma’s made her choice! Indiana University. Go Hoosiers! She really wanted to be “back East”! Thanks for you thoughts. Best.
We saw the fb post about your student… Sorry to hear about it… Its just hard to understand sometimes why things like that happen to innocent children..
Hope you feel better soon…
Thank you so much!
So sorry for your loss Cynthia. My daughter is in kindergarten and at times you could have been talking about her. (quiet, shy) It is evident that you cared very much for him and I am sure that made a big impact on him and his life even though it was much too short. My daughter’s teacher has really helped to make her blossom and come out of her shell. I can just imagine how much your time and attention meant to his parents too. It is quite a gift to be able give like that!
Thank you so much Christie! I’m glad your daughter’s teacher was patient with her too!
So sad.
When do you add the chicken?
@Diane, since the chicken is already cooked, you can add it at the end, when you add the veggies…just to warm it up. I’ve amended the recipe, thanks!
This is a great recipe! I love Greek flavors and I can’t wait to try this!
I’ll be all over this soup when the weather cools back down in a few days!
This is the perfect Spring soup in my opinion. It’s light but comforting and hearty too ^_^ Mmm I would just LOVE LOVE LOVE a bowl of this!
love the texture of the rice in the soup. It had great thickness and richness while keeping the soup healthy and delicious
Can you make this recipe in a crock pot?
The whole dish takes around 30 minutes from start to finish, so I’ve never tried it in the slow-cooker. I guess if you were using raw chicken instead of pre-cooked, you could do it that way.
Delish!! Sadly, half my asparagus froze in my fridge. I cooked up the frozen part with some of the chicken stock then used my immersion blender to puree the frozen/cooked asparagus. I stirred that into the soup just before the egg step. Again I say: DELISH!
I love making something from nothing!
LOVE love love this recipe!! It was surprisingly simple once I got into it and I made it mostly vegetarian – substituted veggie stock for the chicken, a wild grain rice mix for the arborio and used cannelini beans in place of chicken. Holy cow is it good!!! The creaminess created by the lemon/egg addition at the end is heavenly. And… this was the night of making it – I can’t wait to have some tomorrow after an overnight of the flavors blending! Thank you Cynthia!! This will definitely be in the regular rotation. Yummy!! :-).
thank you so much! I love it when you make a recipe your own! Your vegetarian version sounds wonderful!