Recipe update from November 2007
This is one of my favourite soups, one of my favourite Greek dishes. It’s Giouvarlakia Soup. It’s a soup made of meatballs and rice, good stock and finished off with beaten eggs and lemon juice…Avgolemono.
This dish is Greek comfort food. I’ve enjoyed it as a child and I will continue to enjoy it. It’s quick, it’s affordable and it’s a healthy one-pot meal.
I like this soup thick-ish. If the soup is going to made and eaten at one sitting with family (or dinner guests)…then go with about 2/3 cups of rice. If you anticipate that some soup will be leftover, use just 1/2 cup (as advised in the recipe below). With the rice in the soup, the starches will thicken the soup over night and you’ll end up with a very thick and gloopy soup…beyond what I like.
The clincher for this soup is the Avgolemono. Many are intimidated by making this mixture but really, it’s easy. Just remember to slowly temper the hot liquid (soup stock) into the egg and lemon mixture and you’ll never end up with scrambled eggs again.
When making Avgolemono of any kind, do not multi-task. Tend to the task at hand (tempering the hot liquid into cold) and then carry on with your other kitchen activities.
We’re into November, it’s soup season and I can think of no better soup to make than Giouvarlakia Soup.
Try this one out. It’s a soup that eats like a meal, accompanied by crusty bread and finished off with freshly cracked black pepper.
Giouvarlakia Soup
1 lb. lean ground beef
2 level tsp. Sea salt
1/2 tsp. Ground pepper
1 medium onion, grated
1 tsp round allspice
pinch of grated nutmeg
1 egg
1/3 cup Arborio rice
For the soup
2/3 cup Arborio rice
1-2 Vegetable boullion cubes (to taste)
1 tsp. pepper
1 Tbsp. chopped fresh dill
2 quarts (6 cups) of good chicken stock
Avgolemono
2 large eggs
juice of 1 lemon
1 Tbsp. of flour (or corn starch)
- Mix your ground beef, onion, egg, 1/3 cup of rice, spices, salt & pepper in a large bowl. Form the entire mixture into meatballs.
- Bring your stock to boil in a large pot. Adjust seasoning with boullion cubes. Drop your meatballs and the rice into the stock and bring back to a boil. Once you have a boil, reduce to a simmer (medium) with a just closed lid and cook for about 30-35 minutes. Rice should be soft. Take off the heat.
- In a small bowl, add your flour and some water and beat until the flour has dissolved to make a slurry.
- Add the flour slurry to a large bowl with the eggs and lemon juice and whisk or use an immersion hand-blender until just frothy.
- Take a ladle of stock from your pot and slowly add it to your egg/lemon mixture while whisking. Slowly add another 2 to 3 ladles of stock into the egg/lemon mixture. You’ve now tempered your your hot liquid and you’ve successfully made an Avgolemono.
- Slowly add your egg/lemon mixture back into your pot of soup and simultaneously keep on stirring as you’re pouring.
- Adjust seasoning with salt and reserve for five minutes. Serve with a garnish of parsley or dill, cracked black pepper and some good bread.
47 Responses
Just posted my version of this in my blog not too long ago and it’s really similar :) I love this…one of my favorite things growing up. I used to eat about 10 big meatballs when my yiayia made it.
Goodness, you are cooking up a storm. I feel most envious as I stagger in from another day of painting with no energy left for cooking.
I agree, small meatballs are more convenient to eat – the larger ones are only more convenient to make. Either way, though, it sounds delicious.
Oh yes! I do want to try this. I love Avgolemono Sauce.
This really does look wonderfully comforting. I love the photo of those meatballs.
Another great recipe for my ever growing pile of recipes to try. I wonder if I will ever get through them all? I will need to live to be 1,000 years old.
I truly enjoy this soap,I certainly try this
I have been meaning to try a avgolemono soup. This one looks tasty.
I’ve been wanting to make this soup–and your pictures have convinced me that I MUST do it. Wonderful post.
Classic Greek comfort food – my favourite since I was a wee one!
t_J
this soup looks abstolutely stunning. the liaison is perfect!
I, also, love Avgolemono.
Your soup looks most delicious and very comforting – and so easy! Perfect!
It is one of those dishes for me; I hated it as a kid but totally like it now. Actually, I made this a week ago, still remains to be posted. Small meatballs look very nice. Like your family we make them a bit bigger. There are differences between the recipes, yet it’s the same dish once again :)
I love youvarlakia, my mother in Greece does it lot. However, the recipe is turkish-originated. Along with a number of other dishes…
I have been in such a soup mood. I love soup season!
That is a most elegant plate of soup, there, Peter!I was sure there must be cream in there somewhere, but it must be the Avgolemono.
Great tip on not multi-tasking. I think when things go wrong for me in the kitchen it is always because of that.
Given the time of yeah (aka flu season) this post seems very well timed.
Giouvarlakia are part of this set of dishes that have been banned from my kitchen for ever. I had to eat them about three times a week when I was a teenager due to my younger brother, who would not eat anything else. Pity, because they are both nourishing and tasty. Mom always used to put a bit of tomato paste to turn the sauce pink, but I do not think it affected the taste that much.
I gotta make this sometime. It looks delicious!
A comforting and delicious dish”What gorgeois flavors!
Cheers,
Rosa
ΑγαπημÎνο φαγητό, ιδιαίτεÏα για τις κÏÏες μÎÏες του χειμώνα!
this avgolemono is completely new to me and i’m baffled and intrigued. i’ve certainly never seen eggs used in this way, but it’s obvious why this is a comfort food!
I love soup!! That looks so good! I’ve only recently started making soups (other than tortilla that is!)
man that sounds good. lemon juice and eggs eh? damn, I would love this.
I make giouvarlakia often too in the fall and winter–definitely Greek comfort food. But sometimes they tend to be a bit heavy for me … I have to really watch what type of ground meat I buy.
We always like giouvarlakia, even in red sauce or with avgolemeno!
Nice dish, especially for the winter days!!
That sounds wonderful. Though I’ve never heard of vegeta.
I adore giouvarlakia and often sway from the traditional recipe when I want to add a few more vegies. Love it Peter! A Greek classic that I will never stop cooking. Thanks for sharing!
Delicious!
mmm…the eggy broth sounds so good…I am mildly intimidated but I am going to try it because it sounds delightfully “comforting” as you said…
I’ve never made soup with egg and only eaten egg drop soup in chinese restaurants but that does mildly scramble them…so this will be interesting…I love egg drop soup.
it makes me think of carbonara…okay…that may be a bit of a flight of ideas…but the first time I made that I was scared I’d end up with scrambled eggs too…
Real comfort food!!
I’ve only made avgolemono once (it was on a pasta with green beans), but it was really good– perfect way to bring on spring flavors even out of season :)
I do love this soup but at my beginning in Greece I did hate it…
And your previous post about the museum is very nice !
You remember I was there too the same day… but without taking any photos ;)
Wow, I could go for a bowl of these meatballs right now. Perfect comfort food.
Μου αÏÎσουν και εμÎνα Î Î·Ï„ÎµÏ Ï€Î¿Î»Ï Ï„Î± γιουβαÏλάκια και τα δικά σου φαίνονται πεντανόστιμα !!!
ειναι Ï€Î¿Î»Ï Î³Î¹Î±Î¼-γιαμ !!!!
φιλια πολλά !
Looks fabulous!
Oh, that does sound warm & satisfying, I’ll have to bookmark this one
Lovely looking soup Peter and since it is currently pouring down with rain and storming, this sounds like a perfect november meal!
It sounds great, especially like the idea of the lemony soup with meatballs. Thanks for the avgolemono lesson.
LL
Oooh yummy yum yum! This soup looks good! LOVE those meatballs too.
Those meatballs remind me a little of the classic “porcupines”. Talk about comfort food!
Definitely a satisfying soup. I would think anyone who can make custard or hollandaise should be able to make this.
I can see why it’s your fave … it’s creamy and thick and comes with meatballs too. Comfort food indeed ^_^
Hi Peter,
Not to be a pain but I have a question about the vegetable seasoning, would that be like Mrs. Dash or a seasond salt? I don’t think we have that brand here and I was looking for a substitute. You can tweet me the answer when you have time. The egg broth is perfect to get that extra protein in us! Great recipe, I will definitely try it soon. Thanks Peter!
i am really loving this whole adding beating yolks/eggs to soup to thicken it up thing. such an easy way to add protein to soup. this looks great and i love the addition of the meatballs – it’s like greek “italian” wedding soup.
What an interesting soup. Sounds like it has a lot of flavor. I’m known for multi-tasking in the kitchen. So I’ll have to focus with this one.
This looks delicious and perfect timing as we have a blast of cold weather headed our way. Can’t wait to make this one. Thanks.
My mom added another demotion to this recipe, she added a few wedges of cabbage on top and put a plate to hold every thing in place. Works perfect with the Avgolemono.