Portuguese bread soup

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 my açorda de camarão recipe, this is its ancestor — the everyday version my grandmother’s generation made when the pantry held little more than bread, garlic and eggs, and genius 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

Prep time: 15 minutes · Cook time: 20 minutes · Total: 35 minutes · Servings: 4 · Calories: ~232 per serving

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

1. Mash the cilantro, garlic and salt into a fragrant green paste with a mortar and pestle (or pulse in a small food processor).
2. 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.
3. Tear the bread into bite-sized pieces and toss it in the skillet until coated and lightly toasted.
4. 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.
5. Poach the eggs: boiling water, splash of vinegar, 3 minutes each, until the whites set with runny yolks.
6. Divide the açorda among four bowls, top each with a poached egg and extra cilantro, and dig in.

Recipe Notes

• Homemade broth instead of water makes it richer; bay leaf and lemon zest perfume it beautifully.
• Toasting the bread in the oven first keeps more texture in the finished dish.
• Wilted spinach or kale add color and balance.
• Traditionally the poached egg’s yolk is stirred through at the table — that is where the magic happens.