Avgolemono (Egg & Lemon) Soup with Pearled Couscous for Soup (Soup, Salad & Sammie) Sundays

This is not the soup I intended to make today but life got in the way of soup making and I switched to a quicker recipe, this variation of Greek Avgolemono Soup from Mark Bittman. It made the most of local eggs and locally-grown lemons, dill and a carrot. 

I was most intrigued about using a blender to "froth" the egg, certainly a nontraditional take on this classic soup. My other changes based on what I had on hand are in red below. 

Avgolemono Soup
Adapted from How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman via Woman'sDay.com
Serves 4 

6 cups chicken stock (or non-chicken stock)
1 medium carrot, thinly-sliced
1 celery stalk, minced
1/2 cup orzo (I used pearled/Israeli couscous)
2 cups chopped chicken (I omitted & added a can of chickpeas, drained & rinsed)
2 large eggs
3 tbsp lemon juice, or to taste
(I added 1 1/2 tsp fresh dill)
salt and pepper

Bring 6 cups of broth to a near boil in a large soup pot, then turn down until it's just bubbling. Ass carrot and celery and cook about 10 minutes, until vegetables are getting tender. Add 1/2 cup orzo (or couscous or other small pasta shape) and cook until pasta is tender, another 8-10 minutes. Add 2 cups chopped cooked chicken if using, or chickpeas and add the dill. Season with salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, put eggs into blender and blend briefly. Add 3 tablespoons lemon juice and pulse again. Then, with the blender running, slowly add two cups of the soup (moslty broth) and blend until it is frothy and creamy looking. Pour it back in to the pot with the rest of the soup and heat for a couple of minutes without boiling. Taste and add additional salt, pepper and lemon juice as desired. Serve and enjoy. 

Notes/Results: A quick and simple soup that is comforting and light with lemony goodness. I'm not sure the looks were improved by using the blender to blend and froth the lemon-egg mixture but it was quick and easy to do and once the froth had settled in the bowl, it looked better (at least to me!). I liked the pearled couscous, although rice or any small pasta shape would work as well. The lemon flavor of the soup makes it light for the summer and warmer weather. I'd happily make it again. 

Linking up to I Heart Cooking Clubs where we are celebrating Farmers Market and Local Produce this week.

Let's see who is here in the Souper Sundays kitchen this week:

Shaheen of Allotment2Kitchen brought Broccoli and Ginger Soup this week saying, "I had planned to make a bookmarked Broccoli and Ginger Soup, but instead found myself adapting the last Broccoli Soup recipe that I shared on the blog.  ... Though it does not look that exciting,  i felt nourished. it felt healing to eat. I loved the ginger and it warmed my throat with its natural fire and the blended greens was goodness in a bowl." 

Judee of Gluten Free A-Z Blog brings a sweet and cooling Creamy Strawberry Soup saying, "I'm addicted to this light delicious chilled soup that I've been enjoying in this hot humid weather. I know there are many people who just can't wrap their finger around the idea of "chilled soup". I used to be one of them. I guess it's an acquired taste and concept. Call it a smoothie if you don't like the idea of "chilled soup."'

Tina of Squirrel Head Manor made the most of a Fettuccine with Summer Vegetables by adding protein and turning it into Summer Vegetables and Steak Soup. She says, "Well, all I did was saute onions and once soft, added the leftover vegetables. Snip the remaining fettuccine noodles into smaller pieces and toss in a pot. We had a few strips of steak we couldn't finish one evening a few weeks ago and those had been in the freezer, awaiting a casserole or soup concoction. I added a tiny bit of broth, a few other orphan veggies and more salt and pepper. That's it. Use up all the leftovers in any way you can. No waste :-)"

Thank you to Judee, Tina and Shaheen for joining me this week!

(If you aren't familiar with Souper Sundays, you can read about of the origins of it here.
If you would like to join in Souper (Soup, Salad, and Sammie) Sundays, I would love to have you! Here's how...

To join in this week's Souper Sunday's linkup with your soup, salad or sandwich:

• Link up your soup (stew, chili, soupy curries, etc. are fine), salad, or sandwich dish, (preferably one from the current week or month--but we'll take older posts too) on the picture link below and leave a comment on this post so I am sure not to miss you. Also please see below for what to do on your blog post that you link up to Souper Sundays in order to be included in the weekly round-up.

and 

On your entry post (on your blog):

• Mention Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammies) Sundays at Kahakai Kitchen and add a link back to this post. (Not to be a pain but it's polite and only fair to link back to events you link up at--so if you link a post up here without linking back to this post or my blog on your post, it will be removed.)
• You are welcome to add the Souper Sundays logo to your post and/or blog (completely optional).

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Have a happy, healthy week!