The moment we saw eggs stacked up in the Athens Central Market—all sold individually by weight!—we had an immediate hankering for egg-lemon soup. It had been one of our lunchtime standards at home even before we ever got to visit Greece.

David has fond memories of the soup because he once edited a small weekly paper housed upstairs from a diner run by Greek immigrants. As he and the production crew would fuss over page layouts (this was in the day of paste-ups of paper type laid down with hot wax), they would send downstairs for cartons of egg-lemon soup. Each came with its own rolled and lightly steamed round of pita bread. The key was not spilling any eggy soup on the layouts.

By using a pressure cooker to prepare the rice, we can make a basic avgolemono in about 15 minutes, start to finish. In Athens, we tried what we think of as rich man’s avgolemono—containing shredded chicken meat as well as the egg. With a side salad, this rich and fulfilling version makes a fine dinner meal.

GREEK EGG-LEMON SOUP WITH CHICKEN AND RICE

Serves 4

Ingredients
olive oil
1 red onion, finely chopped
1 large carrot, peeled and cut in small dice
2 celery stalks, cut in small dice
2 garlic cloves, minced
7 cups chicken stock
fresh bay leaf
1 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup arborio rice
1 whole cooked chicken breast, shredded
3 eggs, whisked
zest and juice of three small lemons
parsley to garnish

Directions

Heat olive oil in Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion, carrot, and celery and cook for a few minutes until they begin to soften. Stir in garlic.

Add chicken broth, bay leaf, oregano, and black pepper and bring to a boil. Swirl in rice and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook about 20 minutes or until rice is tender. Stir in shredded chicken.

In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs, lemon zest, and lemon juice together. Add small amounts of hot soup to bowl and continue whisking (up to 2 cups, a quarter cup at a time). This tempers the eggs and prevents them from coagulating in streaks. (Stracciatella is a different soup altogether.)

Stir the egg-lemon mixture into the hot soup and whisk to incorporate. Some cooks remove from the heat immediately to prevent egg lumps, but if you stir assiduously, it will remain smooth and creamy and become deliciously thick. Remove from heat and ladle into bowls. Top with chopped parsley.