Sopes Mallorquines

Sopes Mallorquines belong to Mallorca, and the name fools people at first. This is a soup only in the old sense: vegetables cooked down with enough broth to soften them, then laid over thin slices of dry brown pa moreno until the bread drinks almost everything. You eat it with a fork. If it swims, you've made something else.

The bread is what decides the dish. It must be dry, thin, and sturdy enough to soften without turning to paste. In Mallorca those slices are called sopes, cut from unsalted brown country bread, and they sit at the bottom of the greixonera, the earthenware dish, waiting for the cabbage, tomato, garlic, parsley, and market vegetables to do their work above them.

If you can't find pa moreno, use a dense wholemeal country loaf, sliced as thin as you can and dried overnight. A soft sandwich loaf will collapse, and I won't pretend otherwise. Keep the broth measured, add only enough for the bread to drink, and let it rest covered before serving. Siempre sale, si lo sigues.