Boiled Water Soup

I can see my cookbook collection from where I sit at the dining table, so I often find myself looking over the titles and deciding if there is any one title that is "calling" to me.  This time it was Loaf, Crust, and Crumb by Silvija Davidson.

ISBN 0-7181-3825-2

She starts off her book with a discussion of breadmaking, the ingredients and the history of not only making bread but using bread in cookery.  Then she has this amazing directory of bread types; literally about 130 pages of breads and their descriptions all in alphabetical order.  

The descriptions list where the bread originated, main flavors, uses.  Many I have never heard of!  For example, bara brith is a fruit bread from Wales:

The finest bara brith I have tasted was made in a turn-of-the-century wood-fired brick bakehouse ...  It was richly fruited, dense and chewy, made with organic stoneground whole-wheat flour and imbued with the tang of woodsmoke...  (page 28).

The recipes follow this, but make no mistake:  these are not bread recipes.  They are recipes that use bread in a variety of ways.  There are things to do with breadcrumbs, along with recipes for sandwiches, soups, savory dishes, stuffings, sauces, and desserts.   

The recipe that caught my attention was named Aigo Boulido, which "is the Provencal dialect for eau bouillie - boiled water."  I thought it would be amusing to write a blog post on Boiled Water Soup.

Aigo Boulido  (page 224)

1 3/4 pints water

2 - 6 cloves garlic, crushed

1 bay leaf and/or 4 sage leaves

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

salt and pepper

1 egg yolk (optional)

4 thick chunks country bread, slightly stale

Put the water, garlic, herbs, oil, and a little salt in a large saucepan, bring to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes.  Beat the egg yolk in a large jug and gradually strain on the flavoured water (discarding the herbs), whisking all the time.  Adjust the seasoning, adding pepper if you wish.  The bread can either be grilled, placed in warm soup bowls and the soup ladled over, or torn into chunks and stirred into the thickened soup -- in which case you might whisk the soup into the egg in a warmed tureen, dispensing with the jug.

My Notes

I had some whole wheat bagels, which I cut in half and let sit on the counter for a few hours.  I turned them once to make sure both sides were drying out a little.

I used 5 cloves of garlic, which I crushed with the flat end of my big pestle.  I also chose to use just the bay leaf, and I put in 1/4 teaspoon salt.

Water, not yet boiled

While the broth was simmering, I noticed a funny popping noise, which I thought was the garlic.  

Once the broth was ready, I strained it into a quart measuring cup that had the beaten egg yolk in it.  I poured in a little broth, whisked, added more broth, whisked more, etc. until all the broth was mixed into the egg yolk.

Water, boiled

With egg yolk beaten in

When I tasted the broth to adjust the seasoning, I noticed it was lightly garlicky, subtly bay, and needed more salt (1/2 teaspoon did the trick) and some pepper (1/4 teaspoon).  That gave a nice balance to the delicate flavor of the broth.

The broth had a chance to infuse the pepper while the bagels were prepared.

Two bagel halves went under the broiler until they were golden brown.  I placed them each in a bowl and poured the broth over the top.  I put in enough broth to barely float the bread.

The Verdict

The bagels quickly soaked up the broth and became soft.  I used my knife and fork to cut them into bite-sized pieces, and then used my spoon to eat the soup-with-bread.

I had broth left over when I ate all the bread, so I broke up the other half of a bagel (that had been toasted) and ate the rest of the soup with that.  It was interesting to note that the toasted bagel didn't absorb the soup as quickly as the broiled bagel, and I liked the bit of crunch I got from that.

My guest taster and I both liked what we ate.  We agreed it wasn't hearty enough to be a main dish (although I did serve it that way, with some mashed sweet potatoes that had sauteed apples and onions mixed in), but we thought it would make a good first course soup.

The broth was delicately flavored and the bread gave it some body.  Broth + bread was a good combination!  The whole wheat made it more like a "peasant" soup and I liked that very much.  I was surprised at how much of the garlic and bay flavors came through from just 15 minutes of simmering and it was just right because it wasn't overwhelming.  

Success!  I would consider doing it again, but as a side dish or first course.  The vegetarians would like this, and they could skip the egg yolk.  The yolk made the broth yellow; without it, it would look more like boiled water.

I think I would like to spruce up the look of the served soup with some sort of garnish.  Perhaps a bit of chopped parsley or thinly sliced green onions would be nice on top.  

And there you have it:  boiled water soup!