Authentic Avgolemono Soup - Greek Lemon Chicken Soup

Ingredients

• 1 ½ pounds (700 g) chicken pieces with skin and bone
• 1 bunch celery leaves (or 2 celery sticks)
• 1 bay leaf
• 2-3 medium carrots (peeled)
• 1 medium red onion (quartered)
• ½ - ¾ cup (90-135 g) uncooked short grain rice (amount varies, please see recipe)
• 2 whole eggs (room temperature)
• Juice of 2 lemons
• Salt/Pepper as needed
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley (optional for garnish)

Steps

1. Place the chicken in a large pot with celery leaves, carrots, onion and the bay leaf. Add enough hot water (I measure how much water I add so that I can calculate how much rice to add later- I needed 8 cups of water) to cover the chicken. Ideally the water should already be hot as it helps maintain the juices of the chicken. Simmer for about 1 ½ hour.
2. Once the chicken is cooked, remove and place on a plate along with the vegetables. Discard the onion, celery leaves and bay leaf. Keep the carrot. Leave broth in the pot.
3. Remove about 1 cup of broth and add the juice of 1 lemon to it-set aside.
4. Bring the rest of the broth to a simmer, add salt to taste and add the rice. Add 1 to 1 ½ tablespoons of short grain rice per 1 cup broth depending on how thick you want the soup. By adding more rice, you will have a thicker soup. Lower heat and let it simmer for 15-20 minutes until rice is done. Turn off heat.
5. In the meantime, remove the skin from the chicken, add salt and pepper to taste and shred the chicken. Slice the carrot. Place shredded chicken pieces and sliced carrots in the soup, cover and set aside.
6. Make avgolemono sauce
7. Assemble the soup

Source

olivetomato.com