AI-generated image
Sopa de beldroegas
Sopa de beldroegas: purslane and potato soup with poached eggs and fresh goat's cheese over bread
Purslane grows wild between the rows of Alentejo vegetable gardens in summer, and country cooks pick it for this lemony, slightly peppery soup: potatoes and purslane simmered with garlic and olive oil, then finished with eggs poached in the broth and slices of fresh goat's cheese that soften in the heat. It is served over bread, as so many Alentejo soups are. The fresh cheese is usually made with animal rennet; choose a soft goat's cheese or ricotta made with vegetarian rennet if you need to. If you can't find purslane, watercress or spinach make a fair stand-in. Chef's tip: add the cheese only in the last minute, so it warms and softens but doesn't melt away.
- Total time
- 50 min
- Difficulty
- easy
- Serves
- 4
Ingredients
Shop this recipe on Amazon
Spices & pantry
Fresh ingredients (5)
Links open Amazon in a new tab. As an Amazon Associate, WhatToEat.Today earns from qualifying purchases.
Method
0/6 doneStep 1: Warm ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil in a large pot over a medium heat and cook 1 onion and 4 cloves garlic for 6–8 minutes until soft and golden.
8 minStep 2: Add 1 ⅓ lb potatoes, 5 cups water and 1 ½ tsp salt, bring to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes.
12 minStep 3: Add 14 oz purslane and simmer for 8–10 minutes more, until the potatoes are tender and the leaves dark and soft. A common mistake is crushing the potatoes: they should stay in slices.
10 minStep 4: Turn the heat down so the soup just trembles. Crack in 4 eggs one by one, cover and poach for 4 minutes until the whites are set. Cook longer for firm yolks if serving anyone vulnerable.
4 minStep 5: Lay 5 ½ oz fresh soft goat's cheese on top, cover and leave for 1 minute until it softens.
1 minStep 6: Put a slice of 4 slices day-old country bread in each deep plate and ladle over the soup, with an egg and some cheese on each.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 430 kcal
- Protein
- 19 g
- Carbs
- 45 g
- Fat
- 20 g
- Fibre
- 5 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does sopa de beldroegas take?
- About 50 minutes in total: 15 minutes to prepare and 35 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 4 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegetarian?
- Yes. It has no meat or fish.
- What can I use instead of onion?
- 2 shallots per onion.
- What can I use instead of garlic?
- ½ tsp garlic paste or ⅛ tsp garlic powder per clove.
Reviews
No reviews yet. Be the first to cook it.
Rate this recipe
Sign in to rate and review this recipe.
You might also like
Soto Banjar
Along the rivers of Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan, breakfast often means soto Banjar eaten at a wooden riverside warung, sometimes after a dawn trip to the floating market. Unlike the turmeric sotos of Java, this broth is pale and clear, perfumed with the sweet spices that traders brought up the river centuries ago: cinnamon, cloves, star anise, cardamom and nutmeg. Shredded chicken, glass noodles, carrot and a boiled egg go into the bowl with rice cakes, and lime and a little chilli sharpen it at the table. Chef's tip: toast the whole spices in the pan for a minute before the paste goes in; it brings out their sweetness without the dusty edge of ground spice.
Indonesian
Sopa da pedra
Almeirim, a market town in the Ribatejo, is the capital of this soup; its restaurants serve it every day, and each bowl arrives with a clean stone at the bottom, after the folk tale of a friar who 'made soup from a stone' by talking villagers into giving him everything else. This is a pork soup: red kidney beans simmer with chouriço, morcela blood sausage and a piece of pork belly, then potatoes, carrots and coriander finish it into a thick, hearty bowl. Chef's tip: cook the sausages whole and slice them at the end, so they stay juicy and don't turn the broth greasy.
Miso soup
Miso soup (味噌汁) is drunk every day in homes all over Japan, at breakfast as well as dinner, beside a bowl of rice. The base is dashi; this vegan version uses kombu and dried shiitake instead of bonito, which gives it a deep, rounded flavour. Silken tofu and wakame seaweed are the classic fillings. It takes ten minutes; just remember not to boil the miso. Chef's tip: add the miso at the very end and never let it boil. Boiling kills the miso's fresh, fermented aroma; Japanese cooks say the soup should only 'smile', with the surface barely trembling.
Japanese