Greek Lemon Turkey Orzo Soup

I've been wanting to make a Greek-style lemon orzo soup for a long time, and I finally did so last night!  We had a lemony roasted turkey for Easter, so I used the leftover turkey meat to make soup yesterday.  I also made my own rich turkey stock in the crockpot, using the turkey carcass, an onion, some garlic, bay leaves, and peppercorns.  It was soooo good, and so easy!  I cooked it on high for about 6 hours, and then strained the broth, discarding everything else, and refrigerated the broth overnight.  When I was ready to make this soup, I just skimmed the fat from the top of the broth and went to work! 

I think the homemade stock was the key to this soup being so super delicious.  I'm sure it's good with storebought too, so give it a try even if you don't have any homemade on hand!  This recipe calls for a lot of lemon juice, and I like that.  I found that 1 1/2 medium lemons gave me 1/3 cup of juice.  The whole fam loved this soup- even my two semi-picky eaters. 

(Oops, I see now as I'm posting this that the recipe calls for three eggs, and I only used two!  It was great with the two- I bet three would make it even more thick and creamy). 

Greek Lemon Turkey Orzo Soup

adapted from Dunkin Cooking

8 cups chicken/turkey broth or stock

1 cup orzo pasta (I used half white, haft whole wheat orzo)

10 oz. cooked turkey or chicken meat
3 eggs
1/3 cup fresh lemon Juice
1 tablespoon fresh lemon zest
1 tablespoon dried (or 2 TBS fresh) parsley
sea salt & fresh ground pepper, to taste
fresh snipped chives, optional, for garnish

1.  In a large soup pot bring the broth to a boil over medium heat.  Reduce heat to medium low and cook the orzo uncovered for about 15-20 minutes.  Five minutes before the pasta is done add in the chicken.

2.  Place the eggs into a mixing bowl.  Whisk the eggs while adding the lemon juice and zest.  Continue whisking and slowly stir a ladle of the broth into the egg mixture to temper the eggs (whisk quickly- so the eggs don't scramble).

3.  Reduce the broth heat to low and slowly stir in the egg mixture.  The soup will thicken slightly.  Add in the salt & pepper to taste and stir in the parsley.  Garnish with fresh chives. 

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