Açorda Alentejana

Ingredients

• 400 g stale dense country bread (pão alentejano)
• 4 large garlic cloves
• 60 g fresh coriander, leaves and tender stalks
• 1 tsp coarse sea salt
• 100 ml extra virgin olive oil
• 4 eggs
• 1.2 litres water
• 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
• Black pepper, to taste

Before you cook

• Tear the stale bread into chunks the size of a walnut and divide them between four deep bowls.
• Peel the garlic cloves.
• Wash the coriander and pull off the coarse lower stalks.
• Pound the garlic with the coarse salt in a mortar until it becomes a smooth paste.
• Add the coriander to the mortar and pound it into the garlic until you have a rough green paste.

Steps

1. Spoon the garlic and coriander paste into a large warmed tureen.
2. Pour the olive oil over the paste and stir the two together.
3. Bring the water to a boil in a wide pan with a good pinch of salt and the vinegar.
4. Lower the heat until the water is barely trembling, with no rolling bubbles.
5. Crack the eggs one at a time into a cup and slide each one gently into the water.
6. Poach the eggs for three to four minutes, until the whites are set but the yolks still wobble when nudged.
7. Lift the eggs out with a slotted spoon and rest them on a plate.
8. Bring the poaching water back to a full rolling boil.
9. Ladle the boiling water onto the garlic, coriander and oil, whisking hard as you go so the oil emulsifies into the broth.
10. Taste the broth and add salt until it tastes properly seasoned rather than watery.
11. Pour the hot green broth over the bread in the four bowls.
12. Set a poached egg on top of each bowl.
13. Grind over black pepper and leave the açorda to stand for three minutes, so the bread softens without collapsing.
14. Serve at once, breaking the yolk into the broth at the table.