Açorda alentejana is the mother of all Portuguese bread soups — and the humblest, most brilliant dish the Alentejo ever produced: stale bread transformed by a paste of garlic, cilantro and olive oil, hot water, and a poached egg with a runny yolk to crown it.
If you have read our açorda de camarão recipe, this is its ancestor: the everyday version Portuguese families made when the pantry held little more than bread, garlic and eggs, and ingenuity did the rest.
It is dinner in 35 minutes, it costs almost nothing, and it is deeply, disproportionately comforting. The better your bread and olive oil, the better your açorda — that is the whole secret.
Açorda Alentejana Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 slices crusty bread, preferably a little stale (Alentejo bread if you can get it)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- ½ cup chopped fresh cilantro, plus more to serve
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups hot water
- 4 eggs
- A splash of vinegar, for poaching
Instructions
- Mash the cilantro, garlic and salt into a fragrant green paste with a mortar and pestle (or pulse in a small food processor).
- Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat and cook the paste about 5 minutes, until the garlic is golden and the kitchen smells wonderful.
- Tear the bread into bite-sized pieces and toss it in the skillet until coated and lightly toasted.
- Slowly pour in the hot water, stirring gently, until the bread softens into a thick porridge — add more or less water depending on how dry your bread is.
- Poach the eggs: boiling water, splash of vinegar, 3 minutes each, until the whites set with runny yolks.
- Divide the açorda among four bowls, top each with a poached egg and extra cilantro, and dig in.
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