Avgolemono with Meatballs

Traditionally Greeks eat an ‘Easter’ soup called Mayeritsa made of lamb intestines and heart which is as much about practicality as it is symbolic meaning for the holiday.  At some point my future may include roasting a whole lamb and using the intestines for traditional soup, but for now, my culinary experience has yet to mature to tripe, so I’ve adopted this recipe, modified from Greek Cuisine by Vefa Alexiadou.  

Ground lamb can be rather expensive, especially in the spring, so when I prepare this for a large party (and I always do) I substitute half of the ground lamb for a ninety-percent ground beef.  I typically make this soup for 30+ guests, and all of it can be made ahead and assembled with ease at the last minute.  The chicken stock can be made weeks in advance, defatted and frozen.  In fact, I even cheat and use store-roasted chickens, deboning and saving the meat for another recipe and then cooking the vegetables and bones to make the stock for this soup. 

The meatballs can be made at any time and frozen.  They can even go straight into the soup frozen but will require additional cooking time.  My preferred method for cooking the meatballs is to cook them the day before, remove them from the broth, and then cool and defat (skim the fat from the top of) the liquid a second time for a cleaner flavor.  To serve, bring the broth to a simmer and add the meatballs, let them come up to heat and then finish with the lemon-egg mixture.  

This soup is incredibly satisfying with its delicious chicken stock base, the bite of the lamb and rice meatballs, the creaminess of the egg laden broth, and that unexpected bright lemon accent.  The flavor profile is unique and addictive; few can pass up the opportunity for a second (or even third) helping. 

Note:  The addition of the egg essentially turns this soup base into an emulsified sauce similar to a hollandaise.  Leftovers should be reheated slowly over medium-low heat in a double boiler to avoid curdling.

4-6 Servings	Ingredients List		30+ Servings
Stock
1	roasted and deboned chicken, skin and fat discarded, leaving wings and other joints with plenty of meat available to flavor the broth.		2
6-8 cups	cold water (enough to cover the ingredients in the pan)		12-16 cups
1	onion, quartered		2
2-3	medium carrots, rough cut		5-6
2-3	celery ribs, rough cut		3-5
½ bunch	flat-leaf parsley, stems and all		1 large bunch
Combine all ingredients in a large stock pot and slowly bring to a simmer.  Remove impurities from the stock as it simmers by skimming the top to remove the scum that accumulates during cooking.  Simmer on low for approximately 6 hours; regularly skim the top of the pot to remove impurities.  Strain through a fine sieve and discard solids.  Place container in ice bath to bring the temperature down quickly and place in refrigerator to continue to chill.  Once cold, remove all fat that has floated to the top of the container.  Stock can be frozen at this point.
Meatballs
1 lb	ground lamb, beef and/or veal or any combination	6 lb
¼ cup	converted white rice	1 ½ cups
3 Tablespoons	parsley, finely chopped	1 large bunch ( ¾ to 1 cup)
2 Tablespoons	dill, finally chopped	1 large bunch ( ½ to ¾ cup)
2 Tablespoons	olive oil	½ cup
1 teaspoon	salt	2 Tablespoons
½ teaspoon	Black pepper	1 Tablespoon
	Flour to dredge
In a large mixing bowl combine all meatball ingredients except flour and knead the mixture a few minutes to thoroughly combine.  Using a small ice cream scoop, measure out equally portioned meatballs, roll them in hand, and dredge each in flour.  Arrange them neatly in rows on a cookie sheet to make counting them easier (if the need for dividing into equal portions is needed.) To cook meatballs bring the stock to a simmer and drop meatballs in a few at a time.  Simmer on low for 20 minutes.  Remove them from the stock if not serving immediately, allow stock to cool and defat a second time if holding to serve later.  Finish the soup with the avgolemono.
Avgolemono
2	eggs	10-12
¼ cup	lemon juice	1 cup
Soup should be hot and meatballs (added back to stock if removed) cooked through.  Test soup base for salt and add if needed.  Beat the eggs lightly and add lemon juice a little at a time, beating continuously.   Remove soup from heat.  Carefully ladle the hot stock into the egg/lemon mixture whisking vigorously to temper the eggs before adding them to the pot.  Repeat the process for larger batches until the egg mixture is heated through, then add to the pot and stir to combine.  Serve immediately.

Vegetable Red Curry

This vegetable curry is a favorite.  Originally the recipe included shrimp, but after vacationing in Port Angeles, Washington I modified it to more closely mimic the curry we had at the Soho Asian Bistro.  Perhaps the romance of a great vacation lures me back to this recipe, but everyone I’ve served it to since seems to enjoy it as much as we did that trip.  

The heat from the thai red curry is tempered by the coconut and sugar, so even the kids like this dish (vegetables and all!)  The recipe as written here is extremely mild, but if I wasn’t feeding the heat sensitive, I’d double the red curry paste without hesitation.

This is a great meal for entertaining, since it is surprisingly hearty for a vegetarian dish but also makes an impressive presentation with this colorful vegetable combination.  Saute the vegetables (just shy of desired tenderness) the day before, mix the sauce ingredients together in a separate container, and refrigerate.  Heat the sauce to a simmer and toss in the vegetables.  As soon as everything is heated through, serve immediately.  The recipe doubles easily and will feed 15-20 depending on the size of the heads of cauliflower used.

Sauce
3 Tablespoons oyster sauce
1 Tablespoon tomato paste
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 ½ teaspoon Thai red curry paste
14 oz vegetable/chicken broth, divided
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
1 14 oz coconut milk

2-3 Tablespoons toasted sesame oil
1 red/yellow pepper, julienned
1 yellow onion, medium dice
2-3 medium carrots, sliced
¼ cup Mirin sweet rice wine
1 head cauliflower, cut into florets
2 cups snow peas, strings removed
¼ cup green onion, sliced


3 Tablespoons ginger, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced

In a medium size bowl, mix together all sauce ingredients, reserving ½ cup vegetable broth, and omitting the coconut milk until the very end. Set aside.

In wok or saute pan over high heat, saute yellow onion in 2 tsp toasted sesame oil just until transparent, remove to plate.  Repeat process with red pepper.  Add carrots and more toasted sesame oil if needed and saute with the Mirin until desired tenderness. Remove to plate with other vegetables.  

Replenish the sesame oil in the pan as needed, add garlic and ginger.  Add the cauliflower to the pan and toss to coat with the ginger-garlic mixture.  Add the reserved 1/2 cup broth to the pan and cover to steam cauliflower over medium heat, approximately 3 minutes until tender-crisp.  Remove to holding plate.

Over medium-high heat, add the sauce mixture to the pan.  Stirring frequently, bring to a simmer until the color changes and the cornstarch has been cooked through to thicken the sauce.  Add coconut milk, the cooked vegetables in holding, and the snow peas.  Bring to a simmer just to heat the vegetables through again. Sprinkle with green onion and serve over rice with a lime wedge and fried wonton strips (optional.)