Use savory pastured chicken, fresh lemon zest, garlic and pressure-cooked basmati rice to create a light delicate soup perfect for spring. Make it.
Greek lemon chicken soup is one of those signature Mediterranean dishes you won't soon forget. Sunny yellow savory chicken broth seasoned with zesty lemon provides the perfect plunge for fall-off-the-bone chicken, turmeric rice, onions and garlic. It's a simple, light soup that's just right for a warm spring evening when you don't want to be weighed down by a big meal. Read on to see how simple this soup comes together.
Here is Salt Lake City, we have a local restaurant that, in my opinion, has the best lemon chicken soup. The place was called Cafe Med -- now it's just known as The Med! But the soup, which I've been enjoying since the 1990s is exactly the same.
To make this simple nourishing dish Lectin Free Gourmet, we'll used pasture-raised chicken. Find it online from Lectin Light Chicken or try a local farm. I had a few bones leftover from a meal earlier in the week and just made the stock from them. It doesn't take much, just a leg and a wing is all I had. But it was plenty of meat for two people.
You'll need to make chicken stock or find a suitable stock made with pastured chickens. Just fill a pot with 5 cups water, season with one tablespoon sea salt, and drop in your chicken bones. Cover and simmer for about two hours to get all the meat off the bone and the collagen seeped out of the bones. Next, strain the stock into a pitcher. You'll end up with about 4 cups as it reduces some in two hours' time. Plate the chicken and bones and make sure the bones are picked clean. You can toss the bones at this point, but keep all the chicken pieces. You're going to throw it back into the soup when it's done.
Next, you'll want to pre-cook some basmati rice. It's so easy to do. Here's my method. Just dump 1 1/2 cups basmati rice and 3 cups water into a pressure cooker (rack removed). Add 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar. Cover and seal the vent. Then press the "rice" button. Then let the pressure release naturally before removing the lid. Do not rush the steam release by flipping the vent switch.
I have found my easy recipe to yield the best rice with the fluffiest texture. You'll only need 1 cup of cooked rice for this recipe, so save the rest for another meal like fried rice or Mexican rice and refried beans. Yum!
So now that we have our stock and rice, let's make this light and lemony chicken soup. Let's go!
The Recipe
LFG Greek Lemon Chicken Soup
3 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1 Small Red Onion (minced)
3 Garlic Cloves (minced)
1/2 tsp Sea Salt
Pinch Cayenne
1/8 teaspoon turmeric
4 Cups Chicken Stock
1 Lemon (zested)
1/2 Cup Chicken Picked from Stock Bones
1 Cup Pressure-Cooked Basmati Rice
Italian Parsley
Step 1: Sauté the onions and garlic
In a medium saucepan, heat olive oil on medium flame. Add minced onions and garlic and sauté until onions are just translucent. Add salt, pinch of cayenne, and turmeric.
Step 2: Add stock
Next, pour in stock. Add lemon zest and bring to a boil to infuse that lemony flavor.
Step 3: Drop in chicken and rice
Finally, drop in all the chicken picked from the stock bones. And add a cup of the pressure-cooked rice. Cover and simmer just 5 minutes to seal the flavors into the rice.
Serve in soup place with a wide rim. Garnish rim with sprigs of Italian parsley and lemon slices. Squeeze some of the lemon juice from the zested lemon into the broth.
ENJOY!