Sopa de Ajo

Sopa de Ajo, also known as Sopa Castellana, is a simple and rustic dish from the Spanish region of Castilla y León. It has the use of bread and garlic in common with the Portuguese Sopa Alentejana.

Despite the small number of ingredients, this is a rich soup, but in our opinion this mainly depends on the stock. The better the stock, the more delicious the whole dish will be.

Traditionally, chicken stock is used, but vegetable stock is also an option. We do not recommend using just plain water. Too many flavour components would be missing.

It is best to cook the stock yourself, industrial products almost never achieve this quality. It doesn’t take much work, but it does take time.

For a simple but good chicken stock, we use a small soup chicken, greens that can be bought in bundles where we live (carrots, celeriac, leeks and parsley), bay leaves, juniper berries and dried mushrooms. Cover all of this with cold water and bring to a slow boil over a medium heat. We have already explained this here for chicken soup.

Foam will rise, simply skim it off with a spoon. Otherwise, just leave the stock to simmer gently on a low heat for 4 – 5 hours and then pass through a sieve. Finally, season to taste with salt.

Another important factor is the bread. This soup is based on dry white bread, i.e. very simple wheat bread made from yeast dough. If you don’t want to cook a kind of porridge, this bread must be completely hard. This is best achieved in the oven. We also recommend using a French i.e. long loaf because it has a high proportion of crust to crumb.

We cut the bread into pieces of 2 – 3 cm and bake them at 180° C for 15 minutes with convection. It should not get dark, but should be completely dry.

The other ingredients are simply olive oil, lots of garlic, some Spanish ham (Jamón Serrano), Spanish smoked paprika powder (ideal: Pimentón de la vera), salt, pepper and eggs. If you like, you can add a little white wine for extra flavor. A little parsley adds freshness and color.

Finely sliced garlic cloves are sautéed in olive oil over a medium heat for 2 – 3 minutes. It should be intensely fragrant but not take on any color, so don’t let the oil get too hot.

Then add the dried bread and mix everything thoroughly.

Next, add sliced ham and pimentón. If you like, you can set aside a little of the ham for serving.

Stir everything together again very thoroughly and, if you wish, deglaze with a little white wine, which is allowed to simmer briefly so that the alcohol evaporates. The stock is then poured on and simmered gently for 15 minutes, during which time the bread becomes very soft. If it was well toasted and contains enough crust, it will not fall apart completely, which is important for the consistency. Stirring is not necessary.

Then season to taste with salt and pepper; if you want a little heat, you can add some cayenne or piment d’Espelette. Carefully stir in some chopped parsley leaves, always taking care not to mash the bread.

In many recipes, whisked eggs are stirred into the hot soup, but we do not recommend this. Instead, we place one cracked egg per person on the surface of the soup, as you would do with shakshuka, for example. We leave the egg to poach gently until the white is set but the yolk is still runny.

To serve, carefully lift out an egg with a large ladle and place it in the middle of the soup bowls. Sprinkle the reserved strips of ham on top as the final element.

Enjoy.

And may the taste be with you.

Ingredients (for 4 people):

For the broth:

1 small soup chicken (approx. 1 kg – if it is bigger, you would use up to 3.5 l of water and freeze the rest of the stock)

1 bunch of soup vegetables (500 g), consisting of carrots, celeriac, leek and parsley

2 bay leaves

5 juniper berries

Optional: 2 dried mushrooms (e.g. shiitake)

2.5 l water

Salt to taste


For the soup:

4 tablespoons of the best olive oil

6 – 8 cloves of garlic, cut into very fine slices

2 tsp Spanish smoked paprika powder (ideal: Pimentón de la vera)

100 g Spanish ham (Jamón Serrano), cut into strips

180 g dry and toasted white bread, diced

Optional: 1/8 l white wine

1.6 l chicken stock (alternatively vegetable stock – we do not recommend pure water)

Salt and pepper

Optional: cayenne or piment d’Espelette

3 tbsp parsley leaves, chopped

4 eggs

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