Greek Style Soup

I love homemade soup. It's a great place to hide leftovers or a collection of remnants in the freezer and still feels comforting and somehow special. I reached into our too small freezer and pulled out the bag of chicken parts (I save backs and necks and wings to make stock) and duck bones from a long ago sinner and started them in the stockpot with 12 cups of water, 2 stalks of celery, 2 halved onions, 2 carrots, 1 clove garlic, 2 bay leaves, and a sprinkling of peppercorns. I brought to stock pot up to a boil and let everything simmer for about 90 minutes.
This Greek style lemon and chicken soup, avgolemono, is traditionally clear broth thickened with lemon juice and egg yolks. I saved some of the meat from the stock to mix into the soup. After straining the stock I brought the soup to a simmer and added in a few cups of leftover rice (and the reserved chicken meat). Avgolemono is generally made with orzo pasta but rice is sometimes substituted and we had rice on hand. In a separate bowl I whisked 3 eggs until frothy and then mixed in the juice of two lemons. I slowly mixed in a couple ladles of hot broth to temper the eggs and then added the now warm egg mixture back into the stockpot. After 10 minutes on low -- you don't want to boil the soup after the eggs are added so they don't curdle -- we had tangy, lemony, homemade soup.