Name: Acorda Alentejana
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Portuguese
Ingredients: 8 garlic cloves; 1 tsp coarse salt; 30 g fresh coriander; 6 tbsp olive oil; 300 g stale country bread, in pieces; 800 ml boiling water; 4 eggs; 1 tbsp white wine vinegar

Acorda Alentejana

A thick Alentejo bread soup of garlic, coriander and olive oil with an egg poached in each bowl, ready in 30 minutes.

30 min total Serves 4 servings Easy

Don't Make These Mistakes

Use stale country bread.

Pour the water on slowly.

Poach the eggs just before serving.

How to Make Acorda Alentejana

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Pound the garlic, salt and coriander to a paste in a mortar. Stir in 3 tablespoons of the oil.
Put the bread in a deep dish. Pour over the boiling water, cover with a plate and leave for 3 minutes.
Poach the eggs in simmering water with the vinegar for 3 minutes.
Stir the paste into the bread. Divide among 4 bowls and top each with an egg.
Finish with the remaining oil.

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What's Going On Here

What does a poor farm family do with stale bread, a head of garlic and a bunch of coriander? It makes açorda alentejana, the thick bread soup of the Alentejo, the plain, comforting and famous dish of the south of Portugal. It is made in minutes, in a bowl, with boiling water.

Pound the garlic with coarse salt and a large handful of fresh coriander in a mortar until you have a green paste, then stir in a few spoonfuls of olive oil. Tear thick slices of day old country bread into the bottom of a deep dish. Pour the boiling water over the bread slowly, enough to soak it but not to drown it, and cover with a plate for 3 minutes.

Poach the eggs in simmering water with a splash of vinegar for 3 minutes, so the whites are set and the yolks are soft. Stir the paste into the soaked bread, divide among bowls and set an egg on each. Finish with a stream of olive oil. The soup should be thick, almost porridge. Some cooks add prawns or cod. The dish is good as it stands.

After You've Cooked It

Best fresh.

Swaps and Variations

An eighth of a teaspoon of garlic powder per clove is the stand-in usually given when you are out of fresh garlic; it will not brown the same way, and it burns easily, so add it with the liquid.
A dry vermouth keeps for longer than an open bottle of white wine and is the closer swap than a random white left in the fridge; for an alcohol-free version, use the same amount of stock with a squeeze of lemon.

Serving Acorda Alentejana

Green salad
Vinho verde
Cured ham