Avoyolemoni Soupa (Greek egg and lemon soup)

This is a very traditional soup served at Greek Easter after midnight mass to break the Easter fast of Lent. I added a wholefoods spin to my parents’ traditional recipe by soaking the rice (to learn why this is important read this earlier post here) and ensuring that I purchase a certified organic or at the very least a pastured chicken that is not fed GMO grains. 

This is the only time I make a chicken stock (or broth) with a whole chicken. Usually I make a chicken broth using chicken bones only as set out in my online bone broth workshop which you can check out here. 

I love this soup so much not only because of the fond memories it evokes but because of its innocent and comforting flavour. There’s only a handful of ingredients but the trick is all in the technique to make it frothy and creamy without the eggs curdling. 

This is my daughters favourite soup and I hope that she will pass down the recipe to her children and many generations ahead. 

This soup is traditionally served with Greek Cypriot Flaounes. Between these 2 recipes, your wholefoods Greek Easter is sorted. I hope you enjoy these recipes as much as I do and please tag me in your posts (@staraniseorganic) so I can see your creations. 

Ingredients:

• 1 cup white rice

• 1 whole organic or pastured chicken

• 3 pastured eggs

• 2 teaspoons unrefined salt plus extra for seasoning chicken meat

• cracked pepper

• 2 tablespoons lemon juice plus extra for seasoning chicken meat
  

Directions:

1. Soak 1 cup rice in 2 cups of water overnight then strain and rinse. 

2. Place 1 whole chicken in a large saucepan and add 1.5L waters. If whole chicken doesn’t fit into your saucepan cut it in half with a sharp knife. 

3. Cover, bring to a boil (this takes approx. 10 minutes) then slow simmer for 3 hours (you can slow simmer for longer e.g. 6 hours but be sure that the heat is very low so that not much if any of the liquid evaporates). The result should be a beautiful chicken stock. Strain the stock into a large bowl (while keeping the chicken in the saucepan, covered, to stay warm). 

4. Add rice to a small saucepan and add 2 cups of the strained stock. Cover, bring to the boil then simmer until rice is cooked through and the stock has been absorbed, stirring occasionally. 

5. Beat eggs well until frothy with hand held blender. 

6. Add 1 cup of stock in a smaller bowl and very slowly pour in the eggs mixing with a stick blender. Add this egg/stock mixture into the large bowl of stock and mix again with the stick blender until the mixture is frothy on the top. Add in the rice, lemon juice, salt and cracked pepper and stir well to combine. 

7. Place the chicken a platter, roughly breaking it up into pieces (you can try to remove as many of the bones as you can at this point).  Season the chicken with additional salt, pepper and lemon juice to taste.

8. Ladle the soup into bowls.  Serve with the chicken either on a side plate or added into the soup. 
   

Serves 6 as a main or 8 as an entrée. It is likely you will have some chicken left over. 

Cypriot Flaounes (cheese and currant slices)

This is a uniquely Cypriot recipe served at Greek Easter. I took my mama’s traditional recipe and “wholefoodised” it to make it gluten-free and maximise nutrient-density. I think of this as a healthy bread /slice with a slightly sweet twist.  As a result kids LOVE it!

Traditionally each flaouna is made individually in the shape of a square about an inch heigh, but for convenience I simply pour the batter into a square baking tray and cut them up in the desired size after they are cooked. 

Ingredients:

• 300g Reggiano Parmigiano (parmesan) cheese (or other cheese or combination of cheeses), roughly chopped

• 1.5 cups (250g) of activated savoury buckwheat 

• 1 cup whole full fat milk

• 1 cup Greek style full fat yogurt (255g Meredith Sheeps Milk European set yogurt with the blue lid)

• ½ cup extra virgin cold pressed olive oil

• ¾ cup (125g) currants (or 100g sultanas)

• 4 eggs

• 1 bunch (approx 50g) mint leaves, roughly chopped, stems removed

• Sesame seeds for decorating the top of the loaf, preferably activated

Directions:

Rehydrate currants/sultanas to bring them back to wholefoods by soaking them in a bowl of filtered water for several hours or overnight then discard soaking water. 

Process activated buckwheat in a nut grinder or Theromix until it resembles a soft fine flour and add it to a large mixing bowl.

Beat the eggs with stick blender, or process them in a food processor or Theromix until fluffy and add to the large mixing bowl.

Grate the cheese by processing it in a food processor or Theromix then add to the large mixing bowl.

Add the rest of the ingredients (other than sesame seeds) to the large mixing bowl and stir until they are well combined to form a batter. 

Pour batter into a 20cm2 square cake tin or rectangular loaf tin lined with baking paper and liberally scatter sesame seeds on top. Alternatively, pour batter into cupcake/muffins cases then scatter with sesame seeds. Makes approx 20-27 muffins depending on size. 

Bake at 180 degrees for 60 mins or until a skewer comes out clean. For a double batch bake for 1 hour 20 minutes. 

Place under heated grill element to brown the top of the slice (if desired). 

Allow to cool before cutting into large square segments of about 10 cm2 (for square cake tin) or 1 inch slices (for loaf tin). Serve at room temperature.

Slices can be stored in an airtight container for 3 days before requiring refrigeration. They can be frozen up to 3 months. 

If you make these please tag me in your post as I’d love to see them. Happy gluten-free Greek Easter! Remember – this is not about deprivation, it’s about healthy swaps! ;-) 

Easter 2019!

Our nutrient-dense no-crap Easter chocolates are once again available for purchase at Broth Bar & Larder! 

This is artisan chocolate alchemy made with the highest quality ingredients. To create our Easter range, I took our original Sokolata recipe and tweaked it to make it more kid-friendly for younger palates.

As usual, we have 2 fabulous offerings this Easter! Both are available NOW until stocks last at BB&L…

1) ORGANIC YUMMY BUNNY

These little fellows are made of solid raw dark chocolate and retail for $22.50 (cheaper than the Lindt ones I saw in Woollies!). Perfect for all the yummy mummies, delicious daddies and little bunnies out there….these will get your bunny tails shaking! 

2) MINI SOKOLATA DELIGHTS

These delightful little half eggs are the perfect mouth-sized treat. Each egg is decorated with either a goji berry, an activated almond or activated cinnamon buckwheat. You can pop them into some hard plastic egg-shaped containers from $2 shops for those treasured Easter egg hunts (pictured below). 

They are retailing for $15/100g bag and each bag has a mixture of the 3 flavours. 

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The ingredients that go into our artisan chocolate:

Our artisan Easter chocolate is made with the following 3 pure ingredients:

• Certified organic raw cacao powder

• Certified organic raw cacao butter

• Mineral rich pure Canadian maple syrup

In keeping with previous years traditions we have reformulated our signature raw dark chocolate recipe by reducing the amount of raw cacao powder to make it less bitter for younger palates. Because it is less bitter, we reduced the amount of maple syrup as less sweetener is needed when there is less raw cacao powder. Commercial manufacturers increase the amount of sweetener for kids’ chocolates but we did the exact opposite as we know how unnecessary and damaging an excess of sweeteners are, especially for young growing bodies. The result is a silky smooth melt-in-your-mouth buttery sensation with a hint of raw dark chocolate. We trialled these on the harshest of critics (kids!) and got the big thumbs up!

To read about the nutritional benefits of raw cacao powder and what’s in commercially-produced chocolate that you might want to steer clear of (such as soy lecithins, refined sweetens, agave syrup, preservatives, milk powders), read one of my earlier newsletters here.

If these Easter chocolates don’t take your fancy, there’s always our sokolata (raw dark chocolate slabs…choose from 4 different flavours) or our raw cacao coconut balls (sweetened with whole medjool dates). 

To avoid disappointment, I strongly encourage you to pre-order and pre-pay for your Easter chocolates by calling the friendly staff at Broth Bar & Larder on 0421 786 009 or emailing us at orders@staraniseorganic.com and we will put packets aside for you. We can also courier the Easter chocolates to Sydney Metro Areas for an additional courier fee.

We are closed over the Easter 4 day public holiday long weekend 19 - 22 April

Wishing you all a happy chocolate-filled easter!!