Spanish Garlic Soup
Castilian Garlic Soup

Spanish Garlic Soup

By: Anna Trombley, Olympia, Washington

8 cups chicken stock
3 cups good bread (a hearty 7-grain is good, also French or sourdough),
roughly diced and food processed into uneven pieces no bigger than
1/2-inch square
1/2 cup olive oil
1 whole head garlic, peeled and minced
Salt to taste
1 teaspoon paprika
4 eggs

Heat the stock in a large saucepan and keep ready. In a frying pan,
heat the olive oil, then toss in the bread crumbs and stil until
browned. Stir in the paprika and garlic, and saute a little longer,
until the garlic aroma is released. Scrape into the simmering stock,
washing out the pan with stock to get every bit of flavor. Simmer for
20 minutes.
When ready to serve, salt to taste, bring to a medium simmer, and break
the eggs into the soup at the point you can see bubbles break the
surface. Let poach until done, then ladle into soup bowls and serve
extra bread on the side. I used flattish black pottery bowls and
thought it one of the most appetizing soups I'd ever seen. Anna says,
"good reheated, with more eggs thrown in."

Source: <http://www.soupsong.com/rgarlic2.html>

Castilian Garlic Soup

The three essential ingredients in this soup--garlic, bread, and
water--all need to be of good quality. Do not be tempted into thinking
that stock is an improvement since it masks the other flavors. Beyond
that, though, you can improvise around the local variations in
ingredients: lard is used rather than olive oil in Zamora, for example,
and pepper seeds and chopped tomatoes are added in Len. You can also
saute the garlic first. Usually the bread is broken into small pieces
so it swells into sops, but I like this fried-bread version given to me
by Vale Riana, who was born in the Burgos countryside but cooked for a
Madrid family for thirty years. Garlic soup was often eaten early on
winter morning before going out into the bitter cold, and I really
enjoy it that way.

Yield: 4 servings

3 cups water
4 plump garlic cloves, peeled
3 inch length of French bread or an equivalent chunk of coarse crusty
bread, not processed or steam baked, and at least 1 day old
3 ounces olive oil
1 to 2 teaspoons pimento de la Vera smoked paprika (mild, bittersweet
or spicy-hot)
Salt
4 eggs

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
to 10 minutes. Meanwhile, slice the bread very thinly (leave the crust
on) and fry it in the olive oil, sprinkling a little pimento and salt
in the oil. Add the bread and oil to the water and simmer gently for
another 10 to 15 minutes. You can leave the soup for several hours or
overnight at this stage.
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 white is set and serve into deep bowls. The idea is to stir
the soup around so the egg breaks and continues cooking in threads.

Source: <http://www.tienda.com/recipes/castiliangarlic.html>

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