Greek Meatball Soup (Giouvarlakia)

[js]
When I saw this meatball soup from Peter of Souvlaki for the Soul, I was intrigued and I wanted to try it.

It turned out that TS had the same idea.

"You know that soup from Peter G?"
"Yeah?"
"Let's try it."

Most of all, I loved the fact that this was a soup made with water, not stock. I finally felt validated when I read Mark Bittman and Michael Ruhlman endorsing -- well, I guess not quite endorsing -- but telling us that it is okay to use water in some dishes (instead of using much disliked store-bought stock).

We had some ground pork in the house, but we couldn't seem to find the right insertion point for the soup. Last two weeks, for some reason, we actually mustered up enough energy to prepare semi-complete meals (that is, enough food) for every single day of those two weeks.

When we finally had the opportunity a few days ago, the ground pork was all gone. (It was made into CSC's ever-popular dumplings.)

After our weekly Saturday grocery run, ground pork was replenished. I wanted to try the soup with pork-beef meatballs, but come Sunday, I was too lazy to head out again for some ground beef.

We would have to make our version of giouvarlakia with just ground pork.


A bad photo post

[ts]
A-ya! Such bad photos! We made this soup at night. We have no light source!

Anyway, I started by putting a pot of water to boil.

For the meatballs, I buzzed onions, parsley and dill in the food processor and mixed that with ground pork, eggs, olive oil and uncooked rice. Seasoned with salt and pepper too, of course.

To speed things up, I took the pot of boiling water off the stove and placed it beside my workspace. I rolled each meatball in flour and straight into the pot each went.

Then, back to the stove to boil and simmer.



[ts]
It looked a little scary at first (see above), but don't worry!

When the meatballs were cooked, I added avgolemono to the pot: I beat a couple of eggs with lemon juice, then tempered that first with some of the hot soup before adding the whole mixture to the pot.



[js]
I think we have some Greek in us, because the meatballs really, really tasted familiar. It must be the onions and the rice. Because we used just ground pork for the meatballs, the soup was very mild-tasting, almost milky, so the lemon in the avgolemono added such a welcome high note to the soup. I couldn't stop sipping and sipping and sipping. . .

. . .until it was all gone.


The complete recipe is here: Giouvarlakia from Souvlaki for the Soul

[ts]
On a photography note, HELP!

The darktimes have descended. We now have no light source, as it gets dark early (3pm or so). Any lighting/photography tips for taking pictures indoors?

Or I should say, any cheap-cheap-cheap tips that we can use?

We need all the help we can get! (As demonstrated by the horrendous photos herein.) Help us! Thanks in advance!

eatingclub vancouver Greek
"Greek" Calamari
Simple Greek Meal
Caper Salad
Greek Meatball Soup (Giouvarlakia)
Marinated Feta
Greek Shrimp with Feta
Greek Ribs with Tzatziki
Mushroom Ragu Pastitsio
Spanakorizo (Greek Spinach Rice)
Zucchini Ribbons Salad with Anchovy Dressing
Souvlaki (Pork and Chicken)
Tomato Bread Salad, Greek-style
Grilled Fish Fillet on Oregano
Pastéli (Greek Sesame Snaps)

We're submitting this to Regional Recipes, a blogging event created by Blazing Hot Wok that celebrates food from all over the world.

The inaugural event is hosted by Darlene herself! The region is Greece.

Regional Recipes information

Our Regional Recipes posts:
Greek Meatball Soup (Giouvarlakia)
Simmered Saba Mackerel with Daikon Radish (Saba Oroshi-ni)
Thai Fried Chicken
Roast Pork Belly with Puy Lentils
Beef "Ribbon" Kebab (Pasanda Kabab) with Cilantro Chutney
Canadian Onion Soup with Oka Cheese
Muffuletta
Börek with Beef Filling
Korean Pork Bulgogi (with Muu Namul, Kong Namul)
Lobster Congee from a Lobster Feast
Pork Jowl (Pork Cheeks) with Brown Sugar Rub
Beef Salpicao
Cuban Arroz con Salchichas (Yellow Rice with Vienna Sausages)
Cuban Pastelitos de Guayaba y Queso (Guava and Cheese Pastries)
Vietnamese Spring Roll (Cha Gio)
Grilled Fish Fillet on Oregano
Pastéli (Greek Sesame Snaps)