I’m familiar with the Portuguese bread soup called açorda and it’s a lovely soup with brothy bread slices flavoured with mint and poached egg or fish and seafood. I’ve never actually made it before, but each time I enjoyed it, it felt like the comfort of chicken soup or avgolemono. It was a light soup despite the bread.
When I saw this recipe, it reminded me more of a paella made with bread instead of rice. Naturally, I was intrigued. I also happened to have the Portuguese corn bread, broa. While the broa soaked, I prepared my onions in one pan and the tomatoes in another. The recipe seemed to have extra steps when I first read it but the flow actually worked. Squeezing the water out of the soaked bread and stirring to prevent the bread from sticking to the bottom of the pot were meditative activities with the added bonus of aromatherapy.
Absolutely, I used the anchovies! And the pat of butter! This last indulgence didn’t produce a noticeable change in the flavor or texture as I tasted before and after the butter and the soup richness remained the same. My soup was actually soupy but this might have been because I didn’t reduce my broth enough before adding the shrimp and chouriço. I cooked these for the requested 20 minutes to allow the flavors to meld but I found both the shrimp and chouriço were a bit overdone. Next time I will reduce the broth with all the flavorings and meld with the bread, then adding the proteins just for the last 10 minutes of cooking.
Each spoonful was an exciting mouthful of hearty comfort! This one is going on my list of “bowl food /soul food”! Just add a spoon and a glass of red and call it dinner.