This lemony Greek ambrosia is enriched with
beaten egg. Serve with crusty bread and a fresh tomato salad.
SERVES 4
6 cups vegetable stock
4 T. chicken-flavour vegetable bouillon (optional)
1 cup rice
½ cup fresh parsley, minced
salt, pepper to taste
Bring the stock (and bouillon) to a boil in a soup pot. Add the rice, reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Add parsley; season to taste with salt and pepper.
2 small eggs
juice and minced zest of 2 to 3 lemons
1 T. cold water
In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs until frothy; stir in the lemon juice and water. Remove the soup from the heat. Slowly whisk a ladleful of hot soup into the beaten egg. Add another ladleful or two of hot soup, then pour the warmed egg mixture into the soup pot. Stir well. Garnish with paper-thin slices of lemon, and serve at once.
If you must keep the soup warm on the stove, keep it over very low heat. DO NOT LET THE SOUP BOIL after the eggs have been incorporated, or it will curdle.
A light soup with few ingredients, such as this one, relies on the broth for flavour. Be sure to use a vegetable stock with a full-bodied but pleasant taste (i.e., one that doesn’t taste too strongly of cabbage, etc.).
Instant vegetable bouillon, in powder or cube form, is available at natural foods stores. A mixture of dehydrated vegetables and herbs which gives a rich, salty taste to soup broths, this bouillon is handy for those occasions when you don’t have stock on hand. (There’s even a vegetarian version of “chicken-flavour” bouillon, made with nutritional yeast – it has a remarkably familiar flavour!) Read the label carefully to make sure you are buying a vegetarian product.