Soup especially for Easter

SOUP FOR EASTER (mageiritsa in Greek)

This soup is especially made for the Easter. It is a difficult dish and needs a lot of preparation.

I can divide the work in five main steps.

In the first step you must cook and clean the lamb meat and the lamb head.

In the second step you must boil, clean and cut the viscera.

In the third step you must cook the viscera properly.

In the forth step you must cook all the meat together in the broth.

In the fifth step you must make the egg and lemon sauce and put it in the soup.

Ingredients

80 g. margarine

2TB olive oil

2 kilos of lamb or goat meat (from the neck or the front leg)

The head of one lamb or the head of one goat

1 large lamb pluck or two small plucks of goats

300 grams of fresh green onions

2 large eggs

2 large lemons

Salt to taste

50 grams Carolina rice

Instructions

Wash thoroughly the meat of the lamp and its head and put them in a very big pot.

Place the pot over high heat to boil.

Just before boiling, foam appears on the water surface.

With a ladle carefully remove the foam and toss it.

Put a little salt into the pot and leave the meat to boil for ten min. After that, reduce the heat to medium and cook for 2 hours.

When the meat is well cooked, it becomes soft and unsticks from the bones.

Remove with a slotted ladle the meat from the broth and put it in a pan to cool.

Later on, before using the meat in the soup, you will separate the meat from the bones.

Let the pot with the broth to cool completely.

Put this pot in the freezer for about fifteen minutes to coagulate the fat present in the broth.

When the fat thickens it forms a white layer that floats on the broth.

With a spoon, remove the white layer of fat and discard it.

The soup is lighter when the broth is defatted.

Strain the broth and let aside for later use.

Put 3 l water in another pot and place it over high heat to boil.

Once the water boils, pour in the pluck.

Let the pluck to boil 5-6 minutes and then remove it from the water.

Put it in a pan and let it to cool.

You should use only the parts of the pluck that when cooked become tender.

These parts are the liver, the heart, the lungs and some glands that the animal has around its neck.

Toss the rest of the pluck namely, all the fats, the bronchi and all the connecting tissue. 

With scissors cut the liver, the heart and the lungs into pieces that have the size of a small bean.

Keep these pieces in a bowl cover with a kitchen towel.

Remove with your fingers the glands that there are around the animals neck and put them in the previous bowl.

Kidney has a distinct taste which is not pleasant for each one.

Many people discard them.

If you want to use the kidneys, you must boil them first.

Put water in a small pot. Put it over high heat to boil.

Cut each kidney in the middle and put them in the boiling water.

Boil them for 10 min to get rid of their unpleasant odor.

Then cut the kidneys in small pieces and put them in the bowl with the rest of the intestines.

Now it is time to clean the boiled lamb meat.

Toss the fat, any pieces of skin you can find and the bones that there are in the meat.

With scissors cut the meat in pieces that have the size of a small bean.

Put those pieces of the meat in second bowl.

Take any pieces of meat you can find in the boiled head of lamb and put them in the second bowl with the meat.

Peel the onions from the outer leaves, rinse them and cut those in small pieces.

Put in a large and deep pot the margarine and the oil and place it over medium heat.

Once margarine is melted, throw in the chopped green onions and stir.

Sauté the onions until they become soft.

Stir in the green onions, the pieces of intestine of lamb and reduce heat.

Stir often to prevent sticking.

The pieces of lungs need to be cooked longer than the pieces of the liver.

Put a few pieces of lung in a small plate and try some of them to see if they are softened.

If they are not let them cook longer.

The viscera need to cook at least 40 minutes, to soften well.

With a spoon take some viscera and put them in a small plate.

Try them to see if they are soft and tender.

If they aren’t cook them more.

Wash the rice and strain it. (Rice may be omitted).

Put the rice in the pot with the viscera and stir.

Scour the dill and wash it well.

Put in the pot with the viscera the pieces of the boiled lamb meat and the pieces of meat from the lamb head.

Stir a few times and then pour in the strained broth of meat.

Finely chop the dill over the meat and add salt and pepper.

Boil all meat together over medium heat for 10 min.

 Turn off the heat.

Egg and lemon sauce

Squeeze two lemons.

Put in a bowl the eggs and beat them with a whisk.

Pour the lemon juice little by little into the eggs stirring continuously.

With a soup ladle take boiling broth from the pot and pour it slowly into the eggs stirring continuously.

Repeat this 4 more times.

In this way the eggs are slowly cooked and the sauce remains smooth.

Remove the pot from the heat and pour in the soup the egg and lemon sauce stirring constantly.

Taste the soup and if necessary correct seasoning.

This soup in made every Easter and is served warm at midnight after the mass of the resurrection of the Christ.