Sopa de Ajo is “soup as medicine”. This recipe is for Sopa de Ajo Castellana from Rick Stein. Difficult to source ham bones for the caldo so I use frozen concentrated ham stock, produced as a by product of making ham hock terrine. I don’t always add a poached egg. There are many regional variations: in Andalucia they have a version thickened with cauliflower and without pimentón.
First tried something like this twenty years ago (Açorda à Alentejana) in Evora in Portugal. The use of Coriander in place of pimentón made it very Portuguese and very different from the Castilian version.
The Portuguese version was oily and green rather than rust red.
