Since Victor made a vat of chicken stock, I thought it only fitting to make a small pot of chicken soup. I’m clever like that, sometimes.

My mantra is soup is soup is soup. You put stuff in a pot and make it hot. And… that is generally my thought on it. But every now and again, I like to see what’s out there – what others are doing or revisit things from the past.

We were raised on soup and crusty bread and as much as I talk about not replicating recipes, I’d love to be able to make a bowl of her vegetable beef soup. She wrote out a recipe, but… it’s not her soup. The other reality is she never quite made the same soup twice – it was always similar and always really good – but it was never exactly the same. I don’t try and make hers. I just miss it.

But I digress…

I headed over to the NY Times Food Section to see what they had in the way of chicken and leek soups. I was thinking something like a traditional cock-a-leekie since I had lots of leeks. What I found was a similar soup – but with lemon juice and thickened with eggs. Be still, my beating heart!

Chicken Rice Soup with Leeks and Lemon

adapted from NY Times – Martha Rose Shulman

• 2 quarts chicken stock
• 1 pound leeks, sliced thin
• 1/2 cup short grained rice
• 4 large eggs
• Fresh juice of 2 lemons
• 1 cup diced cooked chicken
• Salt and Pepper, to taste
• Hard cooked eggs, for garnish

Combine the stock and leeks, bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer 20 minutes. Add the rice and continue to simmer until it begins to break down – about 30 minutes. Taste and adjust salt.

Remove about a cup of broth to cool a bit. Stir in chicken.

Beat together the eggs and lemon juice in a medium bowl.

Just before serving, mix the semi-cooled broth with the eggs. Remove the pot from the stove and quickly stir the egg mixture into the soup.

Garnish with sliced hard cooked egg and black pepper.

This was really awesome – and is being added to the fall and winter rotation.

AND… there’s enough for lunch, tomorrow!!!