Avgolemono a.k.a. THE Best Chicken Soup Ever

Heat the olive oil in a pan. Add the celery, carrots, and onion. Saute until soft, then add the chicken, the chicken neck, and the chopped up chicken guts (I’m serious, but I highly suggest tossing the gizzard—they are chewy and too strange for words). Saute for a minute and then add enough water to cover the chicken. Add an appropriate-looking amount of salt for the amount of chicken and water you’ve got in there. Bring to a boil and then simmer for an hour. Test the broth and add more salt if needed (it needs to be pretty salty as you will be adding rice soon). Set the chicken on a cutting board to cool. Eat the neck (or find someone who will appreciate it! What are you doing cooking whole chicken and not eating the neck anyway?).

Bring the broth back to a full boil and add the rice. Boil 20 minutes. In the meantime, put in the whites of the eggs (put the yolks in a glass) in the blender and beat to create a meringue. Stir the juice of the lemons into the yolks, then stir that into the whipped whites.

Turn off the heat. Tear the meat off the chicken and throw it back in the pot. SLOWLY pour hot broth into the egg lemon mix, stirring well as you go. Keep adding hot broth until the container is almost full, then stir it back into the pot.

This is one soup that is better the first day because when you reheat it, the eggs will try to cook, giving you egg drop lemon soup. Still good, just not Greek!

Okay, okay. You’re in a hurry, I get it. You can use pre-made broth and just cook some cut-up chicken into it. Bah!