Chicken & Rice Soup with Egg and Lemon (Kotosoupa Avgolemono)
This soup is a favorite with the Greek families. In Greece chicken soup is known as a traditional remedy for colds and for hangovers. The Greek variation of this soup is avgolemono, cooked with, lemon juice, orzo, and eggs.
INGREDIENTS:
1 small chicken
12 cups of water
1 cup of orzo
1 egg yolk
juice of 1/2 a lemon
sea salt
ground pepper
3 tablespoons of olive oil
PREPARATION:

Clean chicken.
Place the chicken in a large stock pot and add water to cover. Bring to a full boil. Skim off any foam that rises to the top. When the foam stops, reduce heat, cover the soup and simmer until the chicken meat is falling off the bone, (depending on weight, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours).
Remove the Chicken from the pot and set aside.

Strain the broth, return to the pot, and bring to a boil. Add the orzo, salt, pepper, and olive oil to the pot, reduce heat, and simmer until the orzo is done, approximately 20 minutes. Remove from the heat.

While the orzo is cooking, bone the chicken and cut the meat into pieces.
In a mixing bowl, whisk the egg yolk with one cup of water and add the lemon juice a drop at a time. When the lemon and egg have blended, add cup of soup to the mix pouring very slowly stirring briskly (this process is very important) to blend well. If the hot liquid is added too quickly, the mixture will curdle. When the mix is fully blended, stir the soup and pour in the egg-lemon mixture slowly, and shake the pot gently to distribute. Do not stir.
Add the chicken meat to the soup and serve.