Castilian Garlic Soup - Spanish

Total Time: 25 mins Preparation Time: 5 mins Cook Time: 20 mins

Ingredients

• 3 cups water
• 4 garlic cloves, plump and peeled
• 3 inches length french bread or 3 inches an equivalent chunk of rustic bread, and at least 1 day old
• 3 ounces olive oil
• 1 -2 teaspoon smoked paprika (pimenton de la vera, may be mild, bittersweet or spicy-hot)
• salt
• 4 eggs, room temperature

Recipe

• 1 heat the water in a flameproof casserole. chop or pound the garlic to a paste, using a mortar and pestle, a garlic press, or the blade of a knife. add the garlic to the water and leave it to cook through for 5-10 minutes.
• 2 meanwhile, slice the bread very thinly (leave the crust on) and fry it in the olive oil, sprinkling a little pimentón and salt in the oil. add the bread and oil to the water and simmer gently for another 10-15 minutes. you can leave the soup for several hours or overnight at this stage.
• 3 just before serving, poach the eggs in the soup: break each egg, in turn, into a ladle and lower into the soup. remove from the heat as soon as the is set and serve into deep bowls. the idea is to stir the soup around so the egg breaks and continues cooking in threads.