Portuguese tomato and chorizo soup with a poached egg

Serves 4

This soup has a delicious, lightly spiced, nutty flavour (Jason Lowe)

You can make this with Portuguese or Spanish cooking chorizo; the oils from the sausage seep out into the soup to give it a delicious, lightly spiced, nutty flavour.

1tbsp olive oil
150g cooking chorizo, cut into rough -1cm cubes
1 large red onion, peeled, halved and finely chopped
2 firm beef tomatoes or 6 normal-sized tomatoes, cut into 1cm chunks
1ltr chicken stock
2 x 1cm-thick slices of sourdough, cut into 1cm cubes
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 hens' eggs

Heat a little of the olive oil in a wide, heavy-based frying pan and gently cook the chorizo for a couple of minutes to release some of the oils; add the onion and continue cooking for 3-4 minutes on a low heat until soft.

Turn the heat up and add the tomatoes and stir on a high heat for a couple of minutes, then add the stock, season and simmer for 10 minutes. Blend a quarter of the soup in a liquidiser and return to the pan and re-season if necessary.

Meanwhile, heat the rest of the oil in a frying pan and cook the chorizo for a minute or so until it begins to crisp up, then add the bread and continue cooking and stirring until the bread is crisp. Remove from the pan and drain on some kitchen paper.

Poach the eggs and carefully drain on some kitchen paper. Ladle the soup into warmed serving bowls, place an egg in the centre of each and scatter the croutons and chorizo over the top.