← Nouns Cooking · Soup Pot

Ingredients

• 60 ml Spanish olive oil
• 8 cloves Garlic, thinly sliced
• 150 g day-old rustic white bread, thinly sliced or torn into small pieces
• 2 tsp pimentón (Spanish smoked paprika)
• 1.2 l hot water or vegetable stock
• 4 Eggs
• 2 tbsp Parsley, finely chopped
• 80 g serrano ham, diced (optional)
• Salt

Method

1. Warm the oil in a wide pot over medium-low heat. Add the garlic (and the ham, if using) and fry gently for 2–3 min, until the garlic is pale gold. Do not let it brown or it turns bitter.
2. Add the bread and stir for 3–4 min, until it has soaked up the garlicky oil and toasted a little at the edges.
3. Take the pot off the heat and stir in the pimentón for a few seconds, just until the oil turns red; it burns very easily.
4. Pour in the hot water or stock straight away, add a good pinch of salt and bring to a simmer. Cook for 10 min, pressing the bread with a spoon so it breaks down and thickens the soup.
5. Crack the eggs into the soup, cover and poach at a gentle simmer for 3–4 min, until the whites are set but the yolks still soft. For egg ribbons instead, beat the eggs and drizzle them in while stirring.
6. Taste for salt, scatter with parsley and serve at once, one egg per bowl.

Tips

• For the full Castilian version, ladle the soup into ovenproof bowls, crack in the eggs and bake at 200°C (400°F) until the whites set.
• Ham and chicken stock make it richer, but then it is no longer vegetarian.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

Williams Sonoma Gimme Some Oven