The Best Neighbors Ever

Hello Everyone

Back in 1981, my family moved to a new house and on the first day we were greeted with a big pot of delicious soup and introduced to a family that shared our love of food. The soup was avgholemono; a Greek, lemon chicken soup that rivals my father's beef broth (the best in the world and coming soon to RecipePhile) and always leaves you wanting more. The family, The Conomos', are wonderful friends to this day and they honor their Greek heritage and love of food with every meal they prepare.

When I called the house to talk to Mrs. Conomos about the recipes, she convinced me to make her soup and also her famous stuffed tomatoes, domates yemistes, that I had never had. I agreed and this weekend five of my friends came over to my small New York City apartment to share a taste of Hollow Tree Drive.

This RecipePhile is dedicated to the Conomos family. Thanks for being great neighbors and sharing a taste of your heritage with us for the last 20 years.

Have a great week,

Michael
"Always remember that food is about more than eating...it is about thinking, buying, preparing, enjoying and most importantly... sharing."

Avgholemono
Mrs. Conomos LOVES lemons and she is the best at making this soup. My guess is that you will love it too. I think this is lemony enough but if you want to add more feel free. You can always taste it and add more as it suits you.

Approximately 10 cups chicken broth (1)
3 eggs
3 lemons
1 1/3 cup of rice (2)

Bring 8 cups of the chicken broth to a boil (place the other two cups in the refrigerator and cool), add your rice, turn off the heat and cover until the rice is cooked. This should take about 25 minutes. Scoop rice out of the broth and into a bowl. Add the cold chicken broth to help cool the rice down and place in the refrigerator until you are ready to add it to the lemon and egg mixture (see below). Put the eggs and lemon juice into a blender or food processor. Add the rice and process until smooth. Pour the mixture back into the broth and turn heat on low, stirring every so often. Serve.

Domates Yemistes (Stuffed Tomatoes)
These are great! I had some left over rice so I ate it the next day for lunch. My roommate commented that the rice would be a great stuffing for Cornish hens.

12 tomatoes
1 1/2 cups olive oil
1/2 cup chopped dill
1/2 cup dried currants
1/2 cup pine nuts (toasted)
1/2 cup chopped parsley
3 medium onions, chopped
1 cup cooked rice
1/2 cup water
Pinch of sugar
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Wash tomatoes, cut the tops off and scoop out the pulp. Save the caps. Sprinkle insides of tomatoes with kosher salt and sugar. Sautee onions in 1/4 cup olive oil until soft. Mix onions parsley, dill, currants, pine nuts, cooked rice and one cup of olive oil. Season to taste with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Fill the tomatoes with the mixture. Cover with tomato caps and place in casserole with remaining 1/4 cup olive oil and water. Weigh down with lid or heavy plate and place in 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes or until tomatoes are soft. Let cool to room temperature before removing the tomatoes. Serve this dish at room temperature.

FoodNoteworthies
(1) You can use canned broth if you like or you can make it on your own. Making chicken broth is easy. Place one medium sized chicken into an 8-quart pot. Add 3 stalks of celery, 3 carrot, 6 cloves of garlic, 3 bay leaves, 2 medium onions (with the skin on), one head of parsley and 2 tbsp (or 2 cakes) of chicken bouillon. Cover with water and simmer on medium heat for about 3 hours. Remove the chicken and vegetables from the pot and place in the refrigerator until cool. Skim the fat from the top and voila ˆ you have chicken broth.

(2) Mrs. Conomos says to use either Carolina or River brands of rice (not Uncle Ben‚s) when making Avgholemono. Her reasoning ˆ the Carolina and River brands explode when they cook and make the soup a little creamier. I tried to figure out why this is and the only thing I came up with is that Uncle Ben‚s is parboiled and Carolina and River are not. You can use Uncle Ben‚s with stuffed tomatoes however.