Fennel Avgolemono Soup Recipes

Steps:

• In a large heavy saucepan cook the julienned fennel and the shallots in the butter over moderately low heat, stirring occassionally, for 5 minutes. Add the chicken broth and bring to a boil. Simmer the mixture, covered for 15 minutes or until the fennel is just tender but not soft, and remove the pan from the heat.
• In a heatproof bowl whisk together the lemon juice and the yolks. Whisk 1 cup of the soup liquid, a little at a time, into the yolk mixture. Add yolk mixture to the soup, whisking.
• Return soup to the stove and reheat over low heat, stirring constantly.
• Stir in the minced fennel leaves just prior to serving.

Steps:

• Place the chicken, bay leaf and broth in a large pot and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Simmer 1 1/2 hours, or until the chicken is cooked through. Remove the chicken to a plate and let it cool.
• Strain the broth through a fine-mesh sieve into a large bowl. Clean out any scum in the bottom of the pot and add the broth back to the pot. Bring to a simmer, then add the orzo and cook until al dente, about 10 minutes. Check for seasoning here, as you may need to add a few teaspoons salt.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the lemon zest and juice and the flour. Whisk the eggs into the lemon mixture. Pour a little of the simmering broth slowly over the egg mixture and whisk it together. Reduce the heat under the broth to low and whisk in the egg mixture. The soup will thicken slightly and become cloudy. Make sure you don't bring the soup to a rolling boil after you add the eggs. Your eggs will scramble, which will leave you with more of an egg drop soup (which would still be fantastic, but just not the same).
• Chop up the chicken, removing the skin and bones, and add it to the soup along with the dill. Serve immediately.

Steps:

• In a large saucepan, heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Add the onion and all but 1 cup of the sliced fennel, season with salt and pepper and cook over moderately low heat, stirring frequently, until softened but not browned, about 10 minutes. Add 6 cups of water and bring to a boil. Cover partially and simmer the soup until the fennel is very tender, about 15 minutes.
• Meanwhile, in a small skillet, melt the butter in the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Add the remaining sliced fennel and season with salt and pepper. Cook over moderately high heat, stirring occasionally, until the fennel is tender and lightly caramelized, about 5 minutes. Keep warm.
• Transfer the soup to a blender; puree in 2 batches until smooth. Wipe out the saucepan.
• In a medium bowl, beat the eggs with the lemon juice. Whisking constantly, slowly drizzle 2 cups of the hot soup into the eggs. Return all of the soup to the saucepan and stir over moderately low heat just until thickened, about 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Ladle the soup into bowls, top with the caramelized fennel and chopped fennel fronds and serve.

Steps:

• Notes: The outcome of soup really depends on the quality of the chicken base you use. I have found that broth is too weak for the most part, so I highly recommend avoiding broth for this recipie. I have found better success with bullion. The bullion gives you control over the strength of the chicken flavor. If you have a good chicken base, the soup will be good. If you have bad bullion/broth, the soup will be sub-par. A good test is tasting the broth on it's own. If it tastes like a soup you'd eat on it's own, it's a good place to start!
• Place 5 cups of tap water in a large pot. Set pot on stove and heat on Med-High.
• Meanwhile, using a large bowl, rinse the 1/2 cup white rice in cold water 3-4 times. Remove any excess water from the rice after rinsing.
• Once the water begins to boil, add the rinsed rice into the pot.
• Immediately after adding the rice, add 2 1/2 cubes of Knorr Chicken bullion to the boiling pot, stirring until the bullion dissolves. Allow the soup to boil for 1 minute.
• Cover the pot with a lid, and turn the temperature of the stove down to simmer. Set a timer for whatever the recommended cook time of the rice LESS 5 minute (So if the rice cooking instructions say 20 min, set the timer for 15).
• Now, in a large mixing bowl, break open three eggs and add 3 TBS of lemon juice. Lemon lovers, hold your horses at this step. You can add more lemon at the end to your lemony liking. This is just to set the eggs. Using an electric mixer on LOW, or a handheld manual mixter, thoroughly blend the lemon and egg together until very smooth. The more blended this mixture, the less likely you will have egg separate in the soup. If you are mixing by hand, make sure you get it as smooth as possible mixing very well. Allow the lemon egg mixture to rest in the bowl about 15 minutes stirring occasionally.
• When the timer for the broth goes off, remove the pot from the heat source. Take one cup full of the HOT chicken broth and slowly stir it into your mixing bowl containing the lemon egg mixture. Repeat this 3 times, or for as much broth as you can safely transfer.
• Now, take the contents of the mixing bowl and pour it back into the pot. Stir the mixture well.
• Bring the soup in pot to a boil on a med/low heat and allow to boil for 3 minutes.
• Add more lemon to your liking 1 TBS at a time. It's easy to over lemon, so make sure you take it slow. I usually like about 2 extra TBS.
• Serve hot and Enjoy! (re-heating the soup will cause it to become very thick).