Roman Egg Drop Soup
- Total Time
- About 20 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
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Ingredients
- 12cups homemade chicken broth
- Salt
- 6large eggs
- Nutmeg, for grating
- Zest of 1 lemon, grated
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Parmesan for grating
- 2 to 3tablespoons chopped Italian parsley
Preparation
- Step 1
In a soup pot over high heat, bring chicken broth to a boil. Season to taste with salt and reduce heat to a simmer.
- Step 2
Crack eggs into a medium-size bowl and beat lightly with a wire whisk. Whisk in about ½ teaspoon of grated nutmeg, the lemon zest, a large pinch of salt, several twists of the pepper mill and 1¾ ounces grated Parmesan.
- Step 3
Pour egg mixture into simmering chicken broth and stir gently until mixture forms little rags. Simmer for another minute or so.
- Step 4
Ladle the soup into individual bowls and sprinkle parsley over each serving. Pass more grated Parmesan separately.
Private Notes
Comments
Pro tip: This scales down to single-serving size (or any number, really) beautifully. Just heat up enough broth for one (or however many you're serving), then whip up one egg (per person) with grated cheese to achieve the texture of cake batter (as the article suggests). Throw in a dash of fish sauce and some nutmeg and pepper and boom, perfect soup for one. Speaking from experience, reheating eggy soups like this is not nice, so it's best to just make however much you plan to eat.
There appear to be finely sliced green onions in the photo accompanying this recipe. The use of green onions is not included in the recipe, but I'm willing to bet they add a lovely touch of onion-y goodness so I wanted to add this note so others see that it's a viable add in along with the parsley. I have not made this recipe as written, though I've made similar ones. Green onions add lovely crunch and freshness to most chicken based dishes, soups especially.
Nutmeg! it was my Nonna's secret ingredient in everything! always a pleasant surprise & kept everyone guessing. I put it in everything to this day. the trick is to know just how big a pinch. can't wait to make this!
Be generous with your ground pepper and use larger flecks. Very delicious!
Hmmm... Fish sauce is not just East Asian. The fish sauce suggestion is based on using a very old European cooking ingredient called "garum" which was very popular in ancient Rome and Greece. Garum is a fermented fish sauce. You can make garum using fresh-caught fish and non-iodized salt. It takes around eight weeks to ferment. I have used a tiny bit of mashed anchovy instead.
I make this every time someone in my family is sick.