Youvalakia - meatball soup

The snow has melted on our island but we have strong winds and rain instead. 78 year old  Vaso is keeping her two goats under cover and was outside in the driving rain this morning wearing her flimsy summer hat and pulling up clumps of clover to feed them.  Goats don't like to chomp away at the wet clover out in the fields  she  told me.     Vaso looks after her animals.  She's grooming the goats for the Easter spit.

The lettuces don't seem to have been harmed by the snow and I am expecting the lemons to be full of juice now they have had a good watering.  The drip, drip, drip of the snow melting yesterday was an amazing sound.  From every leaf, every plant, every tile there was a steady splash of water for many hours.

These cold days need warming soups so here is the recipe for one of my favorites.

Meatballs in an egg and lemon sauce.

Yiouvalakia avgolemono

This is the perfect comfort soup for a cold winter's day.  It has the tang of lemon juice, the velvety creaminess of the egg and lemon sauce and the tastiness of the flavoursome  rice meatball.

It is basically an easy  meatball soup recipe .  At the end of cooking the meatballs are thickened with eggs and lemon juice and become a creamy, savoury, tangy soup.

In a big bowl place

-  around 300 grams of minced beef

- half a cup of rice

- one onion chopped

- one garlic clove squished/squashed

- one egg

- a handful of parsley, mint and basil (all or whatever you have on hand)  I like to use a little of all of these herbs

- salt and pepper to taste

With a fork mash all of these ingredients together into a smooth 'dough', or get your hands in there and give it all a good hard massage

Form into walnut size balls and roll in flour

Put a pot of water on to boil.  You need about 2 cups of water and add a few tablespoons of olive oil.  Others add the oil to the meat mix, I add it to the water.  When the water is boiling flour the meatballs and drop them gently into the hot water.  They should not break up.

Turn the heat down to medium and cook the meatballs for about thirty minutes.   Very easy so far.  Now comes the egg and lemon sauce.  Follow the directions.  Take the meatballs off the heat first of all.

In a good size bowl beat two eggs.  Squeeze in the juice of two lemons (minus the pips please, though you could fish them out later as you eat.  Happens to me often)

Beat the eggs and the lemon juice till frothy.

NOW, take a soup ladle and fill it with the hot liquid from the boiled meatballs.  Pour it gently into the egg and lemon mixture, stirring/whisking all the time.  Sometimes it helps if one person pours the liquid and the other stirs the whole mix.

Repeat this a couple of times till the egg and lemon has become hot and soupy

Then slowly pour the egg/ lemon/ juice back into the meatballs.  Stir it around without breaking up the meatballs and serve while hot.

It will thicken more as it sits.  When reheating do it slowly and do not let it boil or it will curdle.

As usual serve with feta cheese, lots of wine and bread to dunk.

Really tummy filling and tasty on a nasty winter's day.

Kali Orexi