Oliaigua Menorquí

Oliaigua is Menorcan, and the name tells the truth: oli i aigua, oil and water. Onion, green pepper, tomato, and garlic are softened in olive oil, then water is added and the whole thing is ladled over thin slices of stale bread. In summer, figs alongside make it a meal. That pairing is Menorca talking, not decoration.

The step that decides it is the slow vegetable base. Cook the onion and pepper until they collapse and turn sweet before the tomato goes in, then let the tomato lose its raw sharpness. Add the water gently and don't thrash it with a hard boil. This soup is light, but it shouldn't taste thin. The oil carries the vegetables into the bread, and the bread gives the bowl its body.

If you're far from Menorca, use a good green Italian frying pepper or a small green bell pepper, ripe tomatoes when they're worth cooking, and sturdy day-old country bread sliced thin. No pan de payes where you are? A dense sourdough is the better substitute, not soft sandwich bread, which goes gluey and sulks in the bowl. Siempre sale, si lo sigues. It turns out if you follow it.