Maybe I’m weird, but I love winter.
And I particularly love winter here in Santa Fe where the smell of piñon smoke drifts through the streets at night and the air is clear and crackling cold. On sunny days the sky’s deep, piercing blue almost hurts my eyes. Every few weeks, soft gray clouds steal down from the north and sift powdery snow over the pueblos.
At night when I take the dog out before bed, I’m glad that our dirt road has no street lights–only the yellow lamplight from the house or moonlight or a glittering net of stars illuminates the wind-sculpted snow. Good weather for writers and cooks.
For many years, New Year’s Day was my cutoff point. After the excitement of the holidays, the remaining few months of winter were something to be simply endured until spring. Now I treasure these short days of January and February–silent days of snow, the early darkness, the warmth of the kiva fireplace, and the kinds of food that winter brings–soups and stews and roasted chickens, hearty pastas, crusty pans of enchiladas, a simmering pot of beans, homemade bread, oatmeal cookies, baked apples with heavy cream. Rough red wine and spiced cider, hot chocolate, strong coffee.
It’s the kind of weather when I love to make Avgolemono…which I can never pronounce correctly, so I just call it chicken soup with rice, egg and lemon. I’d probably had it before, but I never paid any attention to it until I was living in Long Beach, CA in the nineties and I read about it in Ruth Reichl’s column in the Los Angeles Times. At the time she was the paper’s food editor, and she described making Avgolemono when she came home late from work and didn’t feel like getting all gourmet. I’ve since discovered it’s also the perfect antidote for a cold or a hangover or just the blues. Good any time of year, but especially in winter.
8 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade
1 cup rice or orzo
3 eggs
juice of 3 lemons, (I sometimes add more lemon juice, as I love the pucker.)
freshly ground black pepper.
Bring chicken broth to a boil, add rice or orzo and simmer until tender (20 minutes, give or take). Meanwhile beat eggs well, then add lemon juice while continuing to beat. Temper eggs with 2 cups of the broth, adding in a constant, slow stream while beating so the eggs don’t curdle. Add egg mixture back to remaining broth and serve. When reheating, do not re-boil; just heat slowly until very warm.
The astringent lemon, eggy richness, salty chicken broth, and starchy rice, make this a whole that is definitely more than the sum of its parts.
Subscribe
