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Recipes with day-old country bread

7 recipes that use day-old country bread, with photos, step-by-step instructions and cook times. The quickest, Salade lyonnaise, takes 30 minutes. It is most often cooked with garlic, egg and onion.

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Sopa de cação

Far from the sea, the Alentejo still has a fish soup it calls its own: firm dogfish simmered in a broth heavy with garlic and fresh coriander, thickened slightly with flour and sharpened with vinegar, then poured over bread. Families make it on Fridays and in Lent, and some village restaurants serve it every week. Dogfish and other small sharks are overfished in many waters; buy it only from a certified source, or use monkfish, a firm and sustainable white fish. A common mistake is boiling the fish hard, which makes it stringy; let it poach gently. Chef's tip: add the vinegar only at the very end, off the heat, so its sharpness stays fresh.

45 minPortugueseFish
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Salade lyonnaise

Every bouchon in Lyon, the small checked-tablecloth restaurants of the old town and the Presqu'île, puts salade lyonnaise on its menu as a starter or light lunch. Bitter, crunchy frisée is tossed with a sharp mustard vinaigrette, then topped with hot smoked pork lardons, garlicky croutons and a poached egg whose yolk spills into the leaves and turns the dressing creamy. It's the meeting of hot and cold, soft and crisp that makes it work. The egg is served runny, so use pasteurised eggs for pregnant women, young children, older people or anyone with a weakened immune system, or cook the egg until set. Chef's tip: deglaze the lardon pan with the vinegar and pour it warm over the leaves so they wilt very slightly.

30 minFrenchSalads
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Sopa de beldroegas

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.

50 minPortugueseSoups
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Sopa de tomate à alentejana

In the Alentejo, high summer means tomatoes ripening faster than anyone can eat them, and this is what farm families do with the glut: a thick, oily stew-soup of tomato, onion and green pepper, with eggs poached right in the pot and the whole thing spooned over slices of stale country bread. It is a supper dish, eaten in deep plates on hot evenings, often with grapes or melon afterwards. Many households slip in chouriço; this version keeps it vegetarian. A common mistake is using watery salad tomatoes; you need very ripe, deep-red ones for a soup that tastes of anything. Chef's tip: cook the onion slowly until truly sweet before the tomatoes go in; that sweetness carries the whole dish.

60 minPortugueseSoups
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Sopa de espárragos trigueros

In March and April people across Extremadura walk the field margins and olive groves picking thin, bitter wild asparagus, and much of the haul goes into this soup. The spears are fried with garlic and smoky pimentón de la Vera, simmered with water, thickened with thin slices of stale bread, and an egg is poached in the pot for each person. It is a country supper for chilly spring evenings. Thin green asparagus from the shops works well. Chef's tip: take the pan off the heat before adding the paprika, so it doesn't scorch.

45 minSpanishSoups
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Ensopado de borrego

Ensopado means soaked, and the bread is the point: Alentejo shepherds' lamb is stewed with garlic, onion, paprika and a little white wine until it falls off the bone, then the rich broth is ladled over slices of country bread in deep plates. It is Easter food in the region, when the spring lambs are ready, and a dish for long Sunday lunches. The wine contains alcohol; use extra stock with a spoonful of vinegar if you prefer. A common mistake is using lean leg meat, which turns dry; shoulder or neck stays juicy. Chef's tip: marinate the lamb overnight in the fridge with the garlic and paprika; the flavour goes right through.

125 minPortugueseMeat
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Migas extremeñas

Migas were the breakfast of Extremaduran shepherds, made from the hard bread they carried, and they are still what families cook on a rainy winter day or at a village fiesta, often in a huge pan stirred with a long spoon. The bread is cut tiny, dampened and left overnight, then fried slowly in garlicky oil with panceta and chorizo until loose, golden and crunchy at the edges. They are served with grapes or melon on the side, and sometimes a fried egg. This contains pork (panceta and chorizo). Chef's tip: keep turning the crumbs with a spatula the whole time; this constant movement is what makes them loose.

55 minSpanishMeat
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Goes well with day-old country bread