Egg and Lemon Avgolemeno Sauce

Prep time 5 min Cook time 5 min

Straight out of my Greek grandmother’s recipe book, I was practically weaned on this avgolemono sauce.

This light and fluffy egg (Avgo) and lemon (lemono) based sauce is lighter and more delicate than hollandaise or mayonnaise sauce because it uses chicken stock rather than oil as the emulsifying base.

It takes 10 minutes to make and with some practice, it is an easy four ingredient recipe. Delicious on any steamed or seared green vegetable or add it to a poached chicken breast for a really light and tasty dish.

The challenge with this sauce is thickening it without curdling the eggs and if you haven’t tried making an Avgolemono recipe before, you should try the recipe with half a teaspoon of flour first. This will thicken the sauce without the risk of curdling.

As you get confident with controlling the heat you can try the traditional recipe without flour.

What you need (for two portions)

1/2 cup warm chicken stock*
Juice of one lemon
One egg
1/2 Tsp all purpose four or corn starch
Salt

What to do

The easy way (with flour)

In a bowl add the lemon juice and 1 tbsp of water, add the flour or corn starch and whisk well until dissolved.
Crack in the eggs and whisk thoroughly.
Slowly add some of the warm stock and whisk, add some more and whisk again so that the eggs warm up.
Then pour the egg mixture into a small pot and on a low fire keep stirring till the sauce thickens. ( 2-3 minutes)
Salt to taste and serve .

The traditional way (without flour)

1 – Crack the egg into a bowl and whisk well.
2. Gradually add the lemon juice and whisk again to combine.
3. Add a little of the warm stock or soup and whisk quickly, add more and whisk again. The reason for adding the broth slowly is to gradually warm up the eggs so you don’t curdle them.
4. Pour the egg mixture back into a small pot and over a low heat whisk the sauce until it thickens. About 5 minutes. (HERE’S A TIP. Lift the pan above the fire while you are whisking to spread the heat evenly and to avoid curdling the sauce.)
5. Salt to taste and serve.

*Note When I need a small quantity of stock, I either use a stock cube or even better, an organic, natural chicken paste called Better Than Bouillon available from Amazon.