A small rock in the Atlantic: Sopas de miel

This is a traditional recipe for Carnival in the Canary Islands. A literal translation would be “honey soup” but as you can see, this isn’t soup. It can be rather soggy, though.

I believe in some places they use honey, but on La Palma, it’s always “miel de cana”, which is like black treacle or molasses, but a little runnier.

Ingredients
Molasses (one small jar)
1 tsp cinnamon
anis 1 desertspoon
peel of one lemon
300g of toasted almonds (chopped)
Stale bread roll (standard Canarian size) cut into slices.

Some people like to use day-old bread, for soft “sopas” Others use week-old bread, so that it’s crunchier.

Put the molasses, lemon peel, anis and cinnamon in a pan and simmer. When the flavours have had chance to mix, add about half the almonds. Keep the mixture simmering, while you add the bread slices, one at a time. Make sure they’re well soaked with the mixture, and then fish them out onto a serving dish. When you’ve done all the bread (or run out of molasses mixture) sprinkle the rest of the almonds over, to decorate.

Personally I find them far too sweet, but there you go.

Labels: Canaries, Canary islands, Carnival, La Palma, Recipies