Madeiran Tomato Soup with Onion: Sopa de Tomate e Cebola

Madeira is a group of four islands in the Atlantic Ocean about 325 miles west of Morocco and about 675 miles from mainland Portugal. The four islands are: "Madeira" and "Porto Santo," both of which are inhabited, and also "Desertas" and "Selvagens," which are uninhabited. Madeira is a constituent part of the Portuguese Republic, commonly simply referred to as "Portugal."

 

While such soup is available on the mainland of Portugal, it is a popular staple in Madeira, and there are varying recipes. I've seen this dish made as more of a "stew," in that it was cooked over low heat for an hour or more, with little or no liquid added, except for that of the tomatoes, and this produced a very thick dish; but on the other hand, I've seen it made as a true soup, with plenty of liquid. You can certainly use all fresh tomatoes, or all canned tomatoes, but I decided to be steadfast (haha) and to use some of both, and if you make this, you'll have no doubt that it is made with tomatoes, as that is the overwhelming taste that dominates. Since tomatoes are very acidic, I list the option of using a little sugar to offset the acidity, but I actually only found one recipe that used some sugar, and I probably looked at a dozen recipes. Just for the record, I use 1/4 teaspoon sugar sprinkled over the soup and then stirred into the other ingredients near the end of cooking.    

 

 

Ingredients (6 to 8 servings):

 

1 to 1 1/4 pounds of ripe tomatoes, blanched and skins removed

1 can of whole peeled tomatoes and juice (28 ounces)

1 baseball size onion, chopped

3 medium cloves garlic, chopped

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 bay leaves

1 heaping tablespoon cilantro (coriander) leaves, finely chopped

1 teaspoon ground white pepper

1/2 to 1 cup chicken broth (depending upon desired thickness)

(optional) 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon sugar

eggs

1 slice rustic bread for each egg (on Madeira, many use the flatbread made there*)

Blanch the fresh tomatoes in boiling water briefly and remove the skins, then roughly chop the tomatoes. (Bring enough water to cover the tomatoes to a boil. Before adding the tomatoes, use a sharp knife to cut through the skin of each tomato and make an 'X,' this will make the tomatoes easy to peel.) Add the olive oil and the chopped onion to a heavy-bottom pan over low heat. Let the onion saute for a few minutes until it starts to soften, then add the fresh tomatoes and canned tomatoes with juice. Let the mixture come to a simmer and then add the chicken broth and adjust the heat to low and add the white pepper, garlic and bay leaf, cover and continue to let the soup simmer. When the tomato and onion are well softened, add the chopped cilantro and simmer for another one minute. Remove the bay leaves, then use an immersion blender (stick blender) to "smooth out" the soup, but you can leave about a third of the ingredients in pieces to give the soup some texture. I've seen recipes that poach the eggs in a separate pan, but I've seen recipes that poach the eggs in with the soup; I poach them separately. When serving, add some soup to a bowl, add one of the poached eggs, and serve with a slice of bread. I've also seen some people serve the dish by putting a slice of bread in the bowl first, then adding the poached egg followed by adding the soup. 

 

* For Madeiran sweet potato flatbread, here is the link: https://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2023/04/madeiran-sweet-potato-flatbread-bolo-do.html 

     

 

WORD HISTORY:

Butcher-This word, used as a noun and a verb, is related to "buck" (a male goat or deer), a word from the Germanic roots of English. The noun "butcher" has an uncertain origin, as both Old Germanic and Old Celtic had similar words, and there is some question as to whether Germanic got its form from Celtic, or if Celtic got its form from Germanic, and Celtic and Germanic did have large amounts of contact back in ancient European history. On the other hand, Old Germanic and Old Celtic are Indo European languages, and for both to have similar forms of a word is hardly astounding.^ Anyway, Indo European had "bhug," meaning "male goat or antelope type animal." This gave Old Germanic "bukkaz" with the same meaning, which then gave Frankish^^ "bukk," with the same general meaning. This was absorbed into Old French as "buc," then as "bouc" meaning "male goat," and this gave Old French the noun "bouchier," meaning "one who slaughters goats," and the word was rendered as "boucher" among the descendants of the Normans in England. English borrowed the word circa 1300 as "boucher" with the meaning "one who slaughters animals and prepares them for sale at market." The mid 1400s saw the borrowed use of "bocherie" (from French "boucherie") as both the name of "a place that slaughtered animals and then prepared and sold them," and as the name for the profession that did such, and it later became "butchery," although the compound "slaughterhouse" rose to become the more common term for the business place itself (both "slaughter" and "house" from the Germanic roots of English). "Butchery (and "slaughter") also later added the meaning "horrendous, barbaric killing(s)." The verb form of "butcher" is from the mid 1500s and meaning "to kill and prepare animals for food," and about a hundred years later the figurative meaning developed, "to mangle or mess up something (usually by incompetence)," as in, "The singer butchered the lyrics to the song." Buck-The Old Germanic form gave Old English "bucca" (male goat) and "buc(c)" (male deer), and these then combined to become "buck," "a male animal of certain species." Circa 1300, the word was also used for "man," then as "young buck," for "a young, energetic and virile man," and later (early 1700s?), "a well dressed man," and also used derogatorily in American English for "young male Indians" and "young black men." Relatives of "buck" in other Germanic languages: German has "Bock," Low German "Buck," Dutch "bok," West Frisian "bok," Danish "buk," Icelandic "bokkur," Norwegian "bukk (?), Swedish "bock," all generally meaning "male animal of certain species like sheep, goats and deer."  

 

^ Keep in mind, it doesn't really matter to the rest of the history of the word if Germanic had the word from its Indo European parent, or if it had borrowed it from Celtic, because Germanic passed it on to its Germanic offspring, including English.

 

^^ Frankish was the language of the Germanic tribe the Franks. The Franks conquered much of what is modern France (then called Gaul), but their language did not overtake the Latin already firmly establish there, but rather, over centuries it was absorbed into what came to be called "French," a word from Frankish (France is another such word).