SOPA COADA

BAKED PIGEON SOUP

This is a soup that is very slowly ‘incubated’ (covare) in the oven for at least 2 hours. In former times it would have cooked very gently at 70°C (150°F/Gas ¹/₄ ) for several hours in the corner of a wood stove. It’s a filling dish and eccellente! Serve as a main course, followed or preceded by a salad.

SERVES 6 PREPARATION TIME: 1 HOUR COOKING TIME: 4¹/₂ HOURS

1 onion, diced

1 carrot, diced

1 celery stalk, diced

Olive oil

3 pigeons, quartered, or use 1.5 kg (3 lb 5 oz) quail or chicken, including livers

185 ml (6 fl oz/³/₄ cup) white wine

60 g (2¹/₄ oz) butter

18 slices of good stale bread, crusts removed, or 1 large loaf sandwich bread

100 g (3¹/₂ oz) parmesan cheese, grated

THE MEAT STOCK (2 LITRES/70 FL OZ/8 CUPS)

1 carrot

1 onion

1 celery stalk

500 g (1 lb 2 oz) beef short ribs + 1 bone or 2 chicken thighs

The bones of the cooked pigeons

Make the stock the day before if possible. Place carrot, onion (whole but peeled), celery stalk, the beef and bones, well washed, in a large saucepan. Cover with 2.5 litres (87 fl oz/10 cups) water, bring to the boil, season and simmer for 2 hours, skimming regularly.

Preheat the oven to 90°C (190°F/Gas ¹/₂). Sauté the onion, carrot and celery in a little oil on medium heat, add the quartered pigeons and brown. Add the wine, let it boil for 30 seconds, add 2 ladlefuls of stock, cover and cook for 30 minutes. Add the pigeon livers 5 minutes before the end of the cooking time. Let the meat cool before cutting it into strips, remove the livers and cut them in half. Add the hot stock and the pigeon bones to the cooking juices from the pigeon. In a buttered baking dish, make a tightly packed layer of slices of buttered bread (the traditional recipe tells you to fry them in butter!), sprinkle with parmesan, top with some pieces of pigeon meat and liver, moisten with a little stock, arrange another layer of bread slices, and so on until all the ingredients are used up (three layers of bread and two layers of pigeon). Add enough stock to cover the bread and bake for 2 hours, basting regularly with stock so the bread stays moist. The sopa coada will be better the next day, reheated in the oven. Serve with some extra broth.