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This comforting, aromatic, traditional meatball soup with its characteristic egg-lemon sauce is a warm hug on a plate!
Chef: The Soup Kitchen of Aghioi Pantes
Preparation & Cooking time: 1 hour and 5 minutes
Serves: 4
In Thessaloniki, hundreds of meals are prepared daily in soup kitchens. Dozens of city residents volunteer to cook for those in need of a warm meal, putting in extra love so the food comes out even more delicious. We met some of these wonderful people at the Soup Kitchen of the Church of Aghioi Pantes in the neighborhood of Xirokrini, an enterprise in operation since 1974 and upgraded in 2013 with the opening of the Station of Love, a large building next to the church and equipped with modern facilities and proper storage spaces. We talked with them and tasted what they had prepared; in yet another act of kindness, they shared the following recipe with us.
© Konstantinos Tsakalidis
© Konstantinos Tsakalidis
Method
- To make classic giouvarlakia avgolemono (meatball soup with an egg-lemon sauce), first place the ground meat, onions, eggs, rice and parsley, along with 100 ml of the olive oil and some salt and pepper, in a large bowl. Knead well with your hands until you have a fluffy, homogeneous mixture.
- Shape the mixture into small meatballs.
- In a wide, deep pot, pour in 2 liters of water, some salt and pepper, and the remaining olive oil. Bring to a gentle boil over high heat.
- Using a slotted spoon, carefully add the meatballs to the pot and wait for the water to return to a boil. Then lower the heat so the meatballs do not collide forcefully and break apart. Simmer for 30-40 minutes, or until you see the rice grains starting to poke out of the meatballs. Remove from the heat.
Egg-Lemon Sauce (Avgolemono)
- Separate two eggs. In a bowl, beat the egg yolks with a hand mixer until they become pale and slightly fluffy. Then clean and dry the mixer’s beaters thoroughly and, in another bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
- Add the beaten egg whites to the yolks in two batches, folding gently with a spatula, so the mixture stays airy.
- Using a ladle, slowly pour as much hot broth from the pot as possible into the egg mixture, alternating with the lemon juice, while whisking constantly with the mixer.
- Once enough broth has been added and the egg-lemon mixture is well heated, pour it into the pot with the meatballs. Gently shake the pot a few times so the sauce spreads evenly and blends with the broth.
- Serve the giouvarlakia hot.
This article originally appeared in Gastronomos.
Ingredients
- 1 kg ground beef (from cuts suitable for stewing)
- 4-5 onions, finely chopped
- 2 eggs
- 200 g Carolina rice (short-grain rice from Serres)
- Leaves from a 1/2 bunch of parsley, finely chopped
- 150 ml olive oil
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the egg-lemon sauce (avgolemono):
- 2 eggs
- 80 ml lemon juice
