Sopa de Galeras de Cádiz

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Wide heavy pot, 4 litre capacity
• •Kitchen scissors
• •Mortar and pestle or rolling pin
• •Fine sieve
• •Ladle for pressing

Instructions

1. 1

   Make the broth

   Put the galeras in a wide pot with 1.5 litres cold water, the bay leaf, and half a teaspoon of salt. Bring just to a lively simmer, then lower the heat and cook for 12 minutes. Lift out the galeras with a slotted spoon and keep the broth in the pot.

2. 2

   Pound and strain

   When the galeras are cool enough to handle, cut them into pieces with kitchen scissors and pound the heads and shells in a mortar, or crush them firmly with the end of a rolling pin in a bowl. Return the crushed shells to the broth, simmer 10 minutes more, then strain through a fine sieve, pressing hard with a ladle. This pressing is the dish. The flavor is in the shells, not in looking tidy.

   Do not blend the shells. Galeras are sharp and brittle, and a blender can drive fine shell grit into the broth. Pound, simmer, strain, and press.
3. 3

   Cook the sofrito

   Wipe the pot clean and warm the olive oil over medium-low heat. Add the onion, green pepper, leek, and the remaining half teaspoon of salt. Cook slowly for 18 to 20 minutes, stirring often, until the vegetables are soft, dark gold at the edges, and sweet. Add the garlic and cook 2 minutes more. Rush this and the soup tastes thin; the slow sofrito is where the sweetness comes from.

4. 4

   Reduce the tomato

   Add the grated tomato and cook for 10 to 12 minutes, until the water has gone and the oil begins to show around the edges. Pull the pot off the heat, stir in the pimentón, then return it to low heat and add the manzanilla or fino. Let it bubble for 2 minutes so the sharp edge of the wine cooks off.

5. 5

   Thicken with bread

   Add the torn bread and stir it through the sofrito until it drinks in the oil and tomato. Pour in the strained galera broth, add the saffron if using, and simmer gently for 15 minutes. The bread should soften into the soup and give it body, not turn it into paste.

6. 6

   Finish and serve

   Taste for salt, then either leave the soup rustic or pass a hand whisk through it a few times to break up the bread. Serve in warm bowls with chopped parsley and a thin thread of olive oil. If you managed to pick any meat from the galeras, add it to the bowls at the end. Nadie nace sabiendo, and with galeras nobody gets rich on meat anyway.

Chef Tips

• •Buy galeras in cold months if you can. They are fuller then, and the broth has more depth. They should smell clean and marine, never strong.
• •If there are no galeras, use 600g small whole head-on shrimp plus 200g fish bones from a white fish. It will be sweeter and less mineral, but the method still gives you a serious Cádiz-style soup.
• •Pésalo, no lo adivines: too much bread makes the soup heavy. Eighty grams is enough to give body while keeping it a broth.
• •Manzanilla from Sanlúcar is the best wine here because it belongs to the same coast and brings a salty edge. Fino works. Sweet sherry does not.

Advance Preparation

• •The galera broth can be made and strained up to 24 hours ahead. Chill it covered, then lift off any set foam before using.
• •The finished soup keeps one day in the refrigerator. Reheat gently and loosen with a splash of water if the bread has thickened it too much.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 455g)