AI-generated image
Sopes mallorquines
Sopes mallorquines: Mallorca's thick cabbage and vegetable broth soaked into thin slices of dark bread
Sopes are a winter ritual in Mallorca, simmered in a wide clay greixonera and eaten for breakfast by country people and for Sunday lunch by everyone else. Cabbage, chard, cauliflower, artichoke and mushrooms cook in a garlicky, paprika-tinted broth, which is then poured over wafer-thin slices of dry brown bread until it soaks it all up into a spoonable mass, more stew than soup. Pork ribs often go in; this version is all vegetables. Serve with pickled chillies and black olives on the side. Chef's tip: buy the bread sliced for sopes at a bakery or slice a hard loaf on a mandolin, as thin bread is the whole texture of the dish.
- Total time
- 70 min
- Difficulty
- easy
- Serves
- 6
Ingredients
To serve
Shop this recipe on Amazon
Spices & pantry
Fresh ingredients (8)
Links open Amazon in a new tab. As an Amazon Associate, WhatToEat.Today earns from qualifying purchases.
Method
0/6 doneStep 1: Heat the 6 tbsp olive oil in a wide pot or clay casserole over a medium heat. Cook the 1 onion and 4 spring onions for 8 minutes until soft, then add the 5 cloves garlic for 1 minute.
9 minStep 2: Add the 1 ripe tomato and cook for 5 minutes until jammy. Take the pot off the heat, stir in the 1 tbsp sweet paprika for a few seconds and return it to the heat; paprika burns and turns bitter in seconds on a hot base.
6 minStep 3: Add the 1 ⅛ lb savoy cabbage, 9 oz Swiss chard, 10 ½ oz cauliflower, 4 artichoke hearts and 7 oz mushrooms and turn them in the oil for 5 minutes until the cabbage wilts.
5 minStep 4: Pour in the 6 ¼ cups water with the 2 tsp salt, bring to the boil and simmer gently for 25–30 minutes until the cabbage is silky and the cauliflower is tender. Taste for salt; the broth should be well seasoned because the bread will dilute it.
30 minStep 5: Lay the 9 oz dry brown country bread in layers in a deep dish, ladling broth and vegetables over each layer until all the bread is soaked and just covered.
3 minStep 6: Leave to stand for 5 minutes until the bread has drunk the broth and the dish is thick and moist. A common mistake is adding too little broth; the sopes should be juicy, not dry. Serve with 6 pickled green chillies and 2 ⅛ oz black olives.
5 min
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 320 kcal
- Protein
- 9 g
- Carbs
- 42 g
- Fat
- 14 g
- Fibre
- 9 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does sopes mallorquines take?
- About 70 minutes in total: 20 minutes to prepare and 50 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 6 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegan?
- Yes. It has no meat, fish, dairy or eggs.
- What can I use instead of onion?
- 2 shallots per onion.
- What can I use instead of spring onions?
- Chives, or a little finely sliced onion.
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.
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.




