Garlic soup or homemade Castilian soup, is a typical soup of Castilla y León, in Spain (although you can find it elsewhere). Originally, it was a humble recipe that was prepared a lot at the time of the post-civil war, when meat ingredients were scarce. This soup of garlic, has removed much hunger in Spanish homes at that time because its ingredients are basic and everyone had access to them in their homes, unlike others like meats. It was also a caloric dish, very good to take in winter, before leaving home to go to work the land. Since then and as always, the recipe has evolved a lot and there are many different ways and ingredients to make it.
INGREDIENTS FOR A GARLIC SOUP OR CASTELLANA SOUP FOR 4 PEOPLE:
12 cloves of garlic
from 50 to 100 grams (depending on how thick we want the soup) of bread. If it is one or two days, better
50 grams fried tomato
a teaspoon of paprika, sweet or spicy.
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
HOW TO MAKE GARLIC SOUP OR CASTELLANA SOUP:
1.- In a tall pot, we take a good splash of olive oil and heat it over a low heat. When hot, add the garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced. We fry very softly for a few minutes to cook the garlic little by little and to perfume the oil well. We pepper.
2.- After a few minutes, when the garlic begins to brown (do not pass or they will burn and bitter a lot) we add the bread, also cut into small pieces. We raise the heat a little and continue cooking the bread with the garlic for another 5 minutes stirring occasionally.
3.- Throw the tomato, stir and then add the paprika, stir for 10 seconds, no more because otherwise the paprika will burn. Now, we cover everything well with broth or failing that, with water. If we take only water, we can also take broth pill.
4.- Let cook for 10 minutes more at medium heat so that there is a concentration of flavors. We can crush if we want the bread, with a wooden spoon so that it is more tender at the time of eating it. Rectify salt and serve our garlic soup in a bowl or deep dish.
Currently, the garlic soup or Castilian soup is typical of Easter in some regions of Spain. It can be added to some other ingredient that we want, such as ham, chorizo, poached egg, added at the end with the container out of the fire and stirring for a minute .... To the taste of the consumer.
