Recipe: Yiayia's Augolemono, the ultimate Greek chicken soup
Rainy days don't happen often in Athens, but this one's for these occasions
Kalimera from a torrentially drizzly Athens,
Thanks to the moody weather as I write this for you all today, I’m reminiscing over the past six winters in Athens by making a soup that really, is the Queen of all soups for me.
Chicken Augolemono, the ace up every Greek Yiayia’s sleeve, healer of all sniffles and mender of a broken heart. It’s what Yiayia would make me when I was down with fever as a child. A steaming bowl of soft white rice and sweet carrots in salty vegetable and chicken broth, shredded pieces of roast chicken hidden like treasure beneath the surface. In Greece an ‘augolemono’ sauce is literally egg whipped in lemon juice, that we stir into our soup. It gives it a light, zingy-sweet taste and is the ultimate Greek soup!
I made this a lot in my Exarcheia apartment the first winter I spent in this city. Six years ago, snow seemed to be a new thing for the Athenians. Apparently, it started becoming a regular feature of February the year I moved back to Greece from the London, as if I’d taken the chill with me. Or the weather was kindly accommodating my move - making the break from my old life back in London easier to transition from.
I’ve always been between these two worlds. Not quite Greek enough, with my freckly skin and rosy cheeks. Not restrained enough to be fully English, my passions, temper and mouth running off like Yiayia’s and so many other women in the village that took a hand in raising me.
The kitchen windows would steam up as I hovered, witch-like over an enormous frothing pot in my pastel pink tiled kitchen, motionless for minutes at a time, old wooden spoon in hand, staring between the white hot mixture and the snowflakes fall onto the Parthenon, as if from an enormous sieve casting icing sugar over the most ancient part of the city.
In winter if it rains heavily or snows, Athens comes to a standstill. Not a single car makes its way down my usually traffic-jammed street. The bitter orange trees bow low like old ladies beneath the weight of the snow. It’s really, very beautiful and a unique time to be here.
Every time I make Augolemono I’m whisked back to those first winters in Athens. I’m comforted in the same way that Yiayia comforted me on my sick days. Below I’m sharing the recipe with you all. It’s best made after you roast a chicken - ensuring zero waste of any part of your bird and a doubling of your meals from one chicken.
Enjoy and savour the last of our winter days, just one month to go until daylight saving and the clocks changing again…
Anastasia xxx
Yiayia’s Chicken Augolemono soup
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