Name: Greek Easter Soup Magiritsa
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 1 h
Total time: 1 h 20 min
Yield: 6 servings
Cuisine: Greek
Ingredients: 400 g lamb liver; 200 g lamb heart; 2 tbsp olive oil; 8 spring onions, sliced; 120 g short grain rice; 1 ½ litres water; 1 cos lettuce, 300 g, shredded; 6 tbsp chopped dill; 1 tsp salt; 3 eggs; 2 lemons, juice

Greek Easter Soup Magiritsa

The Greek Easter soup of lamb liver and heart with dill, spring onions and lettuce, finished with egg and lemon, in 1 hour 20 minutes.

1 hr 20 min total Serves 6 servings Medium

How to Cook Greek Easter Soup Magiritsa

Tap a step to highlight it, or turn on Cook Mode for large type and step-by-step focus.

Simmer the liver and heart in water for 20 minutes. Drain, cool and chop finely.
Fry the spring onions in the oil for 5 minutes. Add the offal and fry for 5 minutes.
Add the rice, water and salt and simmer for 25 minutes. Add the lettuce and half the dill for the last 10 minutes.
Whisk the eggs and lemon juice, whisk in a ladle of hot broth, and pour back into the pot off the heat, shaking the pan.
Serve with the remaining dill.

Keep an Eye on These

Simmer the offal first to mellow the taste.
Add the egg and lemon off the heat.
Never boil the soup after the egg is in.

Changing the Recipe

Out of spring onions? A small regular onion, finely sliced, or a few chives stirred in at the end both cover the job.

Good to Know About Greek Easter Soup Magiritsa

Most people who dislike offal have not eaten this one, and the fix is to simmer it slowly and finish it with lemon. Magiritsa is the Greek soup eaten after the midnight Easter service, to break the Lenten fast, and it uses the liver, heart and other parts of the Easter lamb. The result is a delicate, dill scented soup, thickened with egg and lemon.

Rinse the lamb liver and heart and simmer them in water for 20 minutes to remove the strong taste. Drain and chop them finely. Fry spring onions in olive oil until soft, add the chopped offal and cook for 5 minutes. Add the rice and hot water slowly, and simmer for 25 minutes, with the shredded lettuce and dill going in for the last 10 minutes.

Finish with avgolemono: whisk the eggs with lemon juice, add a ladle of hot broth a little at a time, whisking, then pour back into the pot off the heat, shaking the pan. The soup should be creamy and pale yellow. Serve at once, with a sprinkling of dill and a slice of Easter bread. Do not let it boil after adding the egg.

To Go With It

Easter bread · Dry white wine · Feta

Leftovers

Keeps for 2 days in the fridge. Reheat very gently.