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Last month I wrote about how Italians make clever use of stale bread by turning it into a salad. This month we go to the Castilla y León region of Spain where clever peasants of yore turned stale bread, garlic, and scraps of ham into a delicious soup.

The beauty of this dish is that it makes for a light summer meal when you don’t want to have the stove on for too long, and a hearty appetizer during winter.  I’m all for dishes that don’t take a lot of time or ingredients and this soup delivers a lot of bang for your buck. The bread soaks up the soup, giving it a pudding-like texture, while the poached egg lends a creamy richness that belies its humble origins.

While most traditional recipes use Spanish ham to make the stock, I tend to use chicken stock just because it’s what I keep in my pantry. I usually use about 2 cloves of garlic per serving, but you can certainly increase or decrease this based on your preferences.

Sopa de Ajo

Discover how clever Spanish peasants turned stale bread, garlic, and scraps of ham into a delicious soup from Marc Matsumoto of No Recipes. See the full post at the Fresh Tastes Blog.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 medium cloves of garlic minced
• 50 grams stale bread torn into 1/2″ pieces (about 1 cup)
• 1 teaspoon pimentón
• 3 cups chicken stock
• 2 eggs
• salt

Directions

1. Heat the olive oil over medium heat until hot, and then add the garlic. Sautee until fragrant but not browned. Add the bread and pimentón and continue sautéing until the bread is crispy on the outside and lightly toasted.
2. Add the chicken stock, and bring to a gentle simmer. Depending on the type of stock you used, you’ll probably need to add some salt, but give it a taste first and keep adding salt in small quantities until you’re happy with the taste.
3. Push the bread around to make 2 wells in the soup to hold the eggs. Break an egg into each well and use a spoon to scoop hot soup over each egg until the eggs are cooked how you like them (personally I like them runny).

Yield: 1-2 servings