Rice-Meatball Soup Seasoned with Lemon

Put the flour on a tray, spread it evenly forming a thin layer of flour on the tray, set aside.

In a large bowl, combine ground beef, grated onions, chopped parsley, rice, salt & pepper. Knead well. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes. Chilling the mixture will make it easier to shape the meatballs. You can skip this step if you are in a hurry.

Take a small piece of the mixture, roll it between your palms, forming a ball about ½ inch in diameter. These meatballs with be considerably smaller than those in “spaghetti & meatballs”. Place rice-meatballs on the floured tray. Repeat this until all of the mixture is formed into rice-meatballs. Gently move the tray horizontally in a circular motion. This will make the balls roll in the tray, covering them with flour without having to roll each ball in flour.

In a large pot boil 5 cups of water. Add all the rice-meatballs into the pot. Gently stir with a spoon. When it starts to boil, lower the heat to slow, cover the pot and let it simmer until the meatballs are tender and the rice in them are cooked, about 45 minutes. It will be a thick soup, however, if it looks too thick, you may need to add more boiling water to obtain desired consistency. Remove from the heat, set aside.

In a small bowl, mix egg yolk and lemon juice with a whisk. Take two spoons full of the liquid part of the soup, slowly add to the egg yolk-lemon juice mixture as you continue to whisk. Then, add this mixture to the pot, as you continue to stir the soup.

In a pan, melt butter over medium heat, add the paprika stirringly. When it starts to foam, set aside.

Pour soup into bowls; drizzle paprika butter on top with a spoon. Add a sprig of parsley to garnish.