I wasn’t sure if I was going to write about this traditional Greek Easter Soup but Easter would not be complete without Magheritisa.
Magheritsa is a soup make from the broth of lamb offal and any other part of the lamb (combination varies from family to family).
After a long Lenten Fast, Magheritisa is the first substantive meal most Greeks will put to their mouths…almost immediately after arriving back home after Saturday midnight mass.
Attendance of this mass is so popular that all Greek churches overflow with parishioners standing around the perimeter of the church to take part in the mass with those fortunate (or patient enough) to arrive early for a seat inside the church.
At the stroke of midnight, the Parish Priest will hold up the Holy Light and one by one, parishioners will light their candles and everyone will shout, Hristos Anesti (Christ has risen)!
The customary “cracking of the eggs” will also take place and then each family will make it’s way back home to have the traditional Magheritsa.
For those families (or individuals) who are sheepish about offal, serve it separately in a bowl and allow those who enjoy it to add it back to their soups. For others such as myself, will eat it with just the lamb meat, rice and Spring herbs.
This is another Greek dish where Avgolemono rounds out the Spring flavours of lamb, dill, scallions and parsley. For the best results, start making the broth 1 day ahead of Greek Easter so as to chill and skim off any excess fat.
Magheritsa
(serves 8-10)
1 kg. lamb offal (liver, heart, lungs, etc.)
1 head of a lamb or 2 lbs bone-in lamb pieces
4 Tbsp. unsalted butter + 1/4 cup olive oil
3 bunches of scallions, finely chopped
1 cup chopped fresh parsley,
1 head of romaine lettuce, finely chopped
1 cup chopped fresh dill
1/2 cup Arborio rice
8-10 cups hot stock (See note below)
salt and pepper
2 Tbsp. butter
2 eggs
Juice of 1/2 lemon +plus extra to taste
- Place lamb head in your pressure cooker/insta-pot head. Add head/meat add 8-10 cups cold water, 1 tsp salt and secure according to mfgr’s instructions. Cook for 45 minutes, take off heat and allow to cool before safely releasing pressure. Remove head/lamb meat and remove any edible meat you may want to add to the soup. Discard bones.
- Meanwhile, place a large pot on your stove top, fill with 6-8 cups water, add juice of 1/2 lemon, a couple of bay leaves and bring up to a boil. Add offal and simmer for 15 minutes. Empty cooked offal into a strainer (discard liquid). Once offal has cooled, trim fat/discard, dice up organ meat.
- In a large pot, add your butter+olive oil over medium-high heat and add your scallions, lettuce, parsley and and half the dill and simmer covered until softened (about 8-10 minutes).
- Add your stock and rice and lamb pieces and bring to a boil. Simmer for another 15-20 minutes and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Take off the heat and reserve.
- Prepare your Avgolemeno by beating the eggs in a separate bowl and slowly add a stream of lemon juice while beating.
- Take a ladle of stock from the soup and add it to your Avgolemeno while beating. Now add the contents of the bowl back into your soup plus remaining dill and stir the soup for about 5 minutes to form your Avgolemeno soup.
- Serve hot in bowls, with a side offering of the offal pieces, wedges of lemon and freshly ground black pepper.
NOTE: You can use bouillon cubes to make your stock to speed up things.
You Greeks are a passionate bunch, aren’t you. Soup looks delicious. For my family, I’ll have to serve it on the side….
You Greeks are a passionate bunch, aren’t you. Soup looks delicious. For my family, I’ll have to serve it on the side….
You Greeks are a passionate bunch, aren’t you. Soup looks delicious. For my family, I’ll have to serve it on the side….
You Greeks are a passionate bunch, aren’t you. Soup looks delicious. For my family, I’ll have to serve it on the side….
You Greeks are a passionate bunch, aren’t you. Soup looks delicious. For my family, I’ll have to serve it on the side….
You Greeks are a passionate bunch, aren’t you. Soup looks delicious. For my family, I’ll have to serve it on the side….
You Greeks are a passionate bunch, aren’t you. Soup looks delicious. For my family, I’ll have to serve it on the side….
You Greeks are a passionate bunch, aren’t you. Soup looks delicious. For my family, I’ll have to serve it on the side….
You Greeks are a passionate bunch, aren’t you. Soup looks delicious. For my family, I’ll have to serve it on the side….
Your soup looks exactly like my father makes it. The offal, the rice, broth, all finished off with avgolemono. Nicely done Pete!
Ah Pete, what a very original soup! A soup after my heart.
I live next to a church and that is the exact sight of our Saturday midnight mass :))
Great Magheritsa photos!
Peter, your magheiritsa looks tremendous!
Now, I recognize St. Nick’s in the second photo, but which church is that in the first?
My warped sense of humour got me chuckling reading Pixie’s comment that said something about “a soup after my heart”.. Considering the soup is organ meats…uhm…er…uhm…
I remember now that the soup I had in Athens was called Patsa. I didn’t have a hangover so I don’t know if it would cure it or not. Thanks for sharing this traditional soup and Easter traditions with us:D
I’ll take a bowl with the lamb meat, no offal. It does look like a flavorful soup.
The soup looks great! I’m pretty adventurous with food, so I’d try it. ;)
Gorgeous church – I have a friend who was married in a Greek Orthodox church, and I was bowled over by how ornate it was. A very interesting soup – thanks for sharing another Greek tradition with us
Nina, it’s a wonderful Spring soup…organ meat on the side, indeed.
Pete, good to see that our families share similar Magheritsa recipes.
Pixie, do you realize how funny that pun was?
Lore, us Greeks cause havoc in your neighborhood once a year…for Easter.
Sam, the important is that it was delish and all pics are of St. Nick’s.
Giz, I too got a good chickle from the Pixster’s clever pun!
Yes Val, the hangover soup is Patsa…how many bowls did you have?
Glam, one bowl comin’ up?
Sticky, you get a gold star for being adventurous.
Cake, Greek churches are beautiful, serene, spiritual, every inch planned out.
I’ve just had such fun catching up with your blog. Galaktoboureko, my favorite dessert ever, mayeritsa which i love, and your tagine have all got me drooling. You’re making fabulous food Peter; I’m so glad to know you!
I love all the photos of your Easter celebration and food. What a great time.
Sounds like a delicious soup to me, Peter. However the lemon gives a 180º twist to what I’m used to!
It’s great to know about your traditions… thanks for the pictures too!
i know i say it all the time, but seriously, this really looks awesome. i really want to make this. i HEART offal!
Hi Peter, your mageiritsa looks as my mother’s-in-law, just that she uses goat (nobody in our family likes lamb), she cuts alls the innerparts in very small pieces. I like it very much. But your mageiritsa looks almost the same, well done!
i made a pretty good vegetarian version of this once using mushrooms.
if you get oysters mushrooms they almost look like pieces of lamb meat floating in the soup and may fool carnivores…but not for long.
it’s got to be lambs offal or it’s just not magaritsa!
I usually make this for Easter but only using lamb liver and hearts. Nice soup but I am glad it’s only a once-a-year affair :)