Sopa de Ajo Castellana

Ingredients

• 8 garlic cloves, thickly sliced
• 5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 120 g stale country bread, torn into small pieces
• 80 g jamón serrano, diced
• 1 1/2 tsp sweet pimentón de la Vera
• 1/4 tsp hot pimentón
• 1.2 litres hot chicken or ham stock
• 4 eggs
• Salt

Before you cook

• Slice the garlic cloves thickly so they colour without burning.
• Tear the stale bread into small ragged pieces.
• Dice the jamón and measure out both paprikas.
• Heat the stock in a separate pan so it goes into the soup hot.

Steps

1. Warm the olive oil in a heavy casserole over low heat and add the sliced garlic.
2. Cook the garlic gently for four minutes until it is pale gold and sweet, never brown.
3. Add the diced jamón and fry it for two minutes so its fat melts into the oil.
4. Tip in the torn bread and stir it for three minutes until every piece has soaked up the flavoured oil.
5. Take the pan off the heat completely and stir in both paprikas so they colour the oil without burning.
6. Pour in the hot stock, return the pan to the heat and bring it to a simmer.
7. Simmer for fifteen minutes, breaking the bread down with a wooden spoon until the soup is thick and porridge-like.
8. Taste for salt, adding it carefully because the jamón and stock are already salty.
9. Crack the eggs one at a time onto the surface of the soup, spacing them apart.
10. Cover the pan and cook for four to five minutes over low heat, until the whites are set and the yolks still soft.
11. Ladle the soup into four bowls, giving each one an egg, and serve immediately while very hot.