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Recipe

Tomato Soup with Poached Eggs and Mint

Serves

4

Active Time

25 MIN

Origin

ALENTEJO

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Tomato Soup with Poached Eggs and Mint

During tomato season, there are no bad cooks.

— PORTUGUESE SAYING

The tomato is one of the most characteristic ingredients of Portuguese cuisine, even giving rise to the saying that "when tomatoes are out of season, there are no bad cooks." This season is summer, when there are street-bought tomatoes. Tomato soup with eggs is made all over the country, with variations according to the region. In Alentejo, for example, it begins by frying small strips of pork fat and chouriço meat in olive oil, which are only returned to the soup at the table, in the bowl, but never inside the main pot. In Beira Alta, the eggs are generally fewer in number and appear broken into shreds, cooked in the soup itself. Nowadays, this soup can be made all year round, as we have high-quality canned tomatoes in their own juice. As for the olive oil, which contributes greatly to this soup, it should be mild, so we can prefer a mild fruity virgin olive oil or a standard olive oil.

THE RECIPE

Ingredients

Serves 4

  1. 1 kg of well-ripened summer tomatoes
  2. 4 tablespoons of virgin olive oil
  3. 1 large onion
  4. 2 cloves of garlic
  5. 1 sprig of parsley
  6. ½ bay leaf
  7. 2 eggs
  8. 150 g of day-old mixed bread
  9. Salt
  10. 1 bunch of mint

Preparation

Cut the onion into very thin slices and cook it with the olive oil over low heat with the pot covered. As soon as the onion begins to brown, add the tomatoes, which have been peeled, deseeded, and chopped into pieces. Also add the crushed (or pressed) garlic cloves, the parsley (tied in a bundle), and the bay leaf to the pot. Cover the pot again and let the mixture cook until the tomatoes are completely broken down. Add the necessary amount of boiling water for the soup (generally 8 dl to 1 l), season with salt, and let it boil for another 5 minutes. Adjust the seasonings, remove the parsley and bay leaf, and with the soup boiling, add the previously beaten eggs through a strainer, so they form shreds. Slice the bread and arrange it in plates or in a tureen, alternating the slices with the mint sprigs. Pour the soup over the bread and eat it very hot.