Basque Garlic Soup

  • half a baguette  
  • 3 garlic bulbs  
  • 1/2 cup olive oil  
  • 2 leeks  
  • salt to taste  
  • 2 quarts chicken stock  
  • 1 tablespoon smoked paprika  
  • 3 large dried red chiles  
  • 2 tablespoons sherry vinegar 
  • 3 eggs  

Cut the tops off two of the garlic bulbs, drizzle with oil, enclose in foil, and roast in a 400° oven until soft. Meanwhile, bake the bread until dry and hard. Cut the bread into 1-inch pieces and sauté in a good amount of oil.

Chop the leeks and sauté in oil in a pot. Mince the remining garlic bulb with salt, add to the pot, and continue to cook. Add the stock, bread, paprika, chiles (without seeds), and vinegar. Squeeze the roasted garlic into the soup. Simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally and breaking up the bread with a spoon. When the chiles are soft, scrape out the interior pulp, return it to the pot, and discard the skins. The soup may be prepared up to this point two days in advance.

Before serving, reheat the soup, beat the eggs, and add to the soup in a thin stream, stirring vigorously.