Spanish Garlic and Egg Soup (Galician) – An easy, rustic recipe for traditional Spanish garlic soup, enjoyed throughout the colder months and especially around the New Year holiday. Some even consider it a comforting way to “detox” after indulging in too much alcohol during the holiday season. Either way, this simple garlic soup is wonderfully balanced, flavorful, and satisfying, made with just a few humble pantry ingredients.
What I liove about the rustic traditional European recipes is that most of them come from farmers and field workers. They are simple, nourishing and fresh. Usually we do not require a handful of fancy ingredients, but just a few staples that most home cooks already have in their fridge or pantry. Today’s recipe is one of those regional Spanish ones that deserves a permanent spot in my recipe books.
Behind the Bites
Sopa de ajo, also called sopa castellana, is one of Spain’s classic peasant soups. Its origins are generally traced to the rural kitchens of Castilla y León. The soup is a classic example of ”cocina de aprovechamiento”, or “cooking through resourcefulness”: rather than throwing away yesterday’s bread, it was softened in hot broth and given flavor with garlic and paprika. Regional versions developed over time (just like this Galician version), with ingredients such as ham, chorizo, or eggs added depending on what was available.
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Garlic – best if homegrown or organic
- Onion – yellow onions or white onions
- Bread – stale bread is what people used to add
- Paprika – I like the taste with sweet paprika
- Olive oil – extra virgin
- Eggs – egg yolk needed
- Water – or if you have homemade bone broth for an authentic richer taste
- Sea salt and black pepper to taste
How to prepare Galician Garlic & Egg Soup?
1st: Saute the chopped garlic in some oilive oil. Add in the chopped onions too and saute until golden and translucent.
2nd: Remove the garlic and onions from the pot and in the same ‘leftover’ fat brown the chopped stale bread, sprinkled with some paprika. Add more olive oil if needed.
3rd: When bread is browned on most (all sides), remove from the pan and set aside. Add in again the garlic and onions. Pour the water (broth) in and bring to a boil.
4th: When garlic and onions are completely cooked, separate the egg yolks and put them in a small bowl. Add 1-2 ladles from the soup broth and stir to combine the egg yolks with the broth. Then, gently with the ladle add in the egg yolk mix into the soup pot. Bring to a boil and remove from stove top. Serve with
NOTE: To avoid egg yolks becoming crumbly add the mix slowly to the pot by gently submerging the ladle into the soup and swirling it around to let the egg yolks mix slowly with the rest of the soup.
Recipe Tips
EGGS: There are many ways one can add eggs to the soup, some even drop the eggs directly in the soup and let them cook. Others use chopped hard boiled eggs and add into the soup as well. It’s really a matter of what tastes best to you.
BREAD: The bread is browned after the garlic and onions so it becomes emerged into the leftover olive oil sauces that carry the taste of garlic and onion. However, if preferred you can brown the bread 1st, then the garlic, but the taste will be blunter in my view.
What to do with the leftover egg whites?
There are many options, some of which include baking a batch of simple homemade from scratch cookies. Here are my suggestions:
More hearty SOUP recipes
Spanish Garlic and Egg Soup (Galician)
Ingredients
- 2 large onions
- 2 large cloves of garlic, peeled
- 2 slices of old bread
- 6 tbsp. olive oil, extra virgin
- 2 tbsp. sweet paprika
- 2 small eggs, egg yolk needed
- sea salt to taste
- black pepper to taste
- 1 liter water, or bone broth
Instructions
- First, clean the garlic and onions from the outer layers. Mince both the onions and garlic into small pieces.
- Then, in a large soup pot sauté the onions and garlic until golden. Then remove from the pot, add in the paprika and the old bread sliced into cubes.
- Brown the bread on all sides for a few minutes (until golden and coated with paprika). Add more olive oil if needed.
- Next, remove the browned bread and set aside. Add in the water (broth), salt and black pepper. Bring to a boil and let onion and garlic cook completely.
- Then, beat the two egg yolks into a small bowl, add 2-3 ladles of the soup broth slowly into the egg yolk bowl. Mix well, then slowly add into the soup bowl while stirring all the time.
- Finally, let the soup simmer for another 2-4 minutes. Serve while still hot, topped with the previously browned old bread.
Nutrition
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Just the recipe I was looking for. Thank you!
Thank you!