This is a variation on a most modest type of soup developed in the Alentejo region of Portugal when times were hard, but olive oil, eggs, and bread were relatively plentiful. The shrimp are an embellishment.

Total preparation time: about 30 minutes

Cooking time: 2:00 to 4:00 minutes

Yield: four servings, which is a complete meal for two people

Vegetarian: "crusto-vegetarian," but if you take out the shrimp it's lacto-ovo vegetarian

Here's what you need at the ready when you start the four minute soup drill below:

• 1/4 cup of good olive oil
• salt
• 12 or more big cloves of fresh garlic (peeled and cut into big pieces)
• 4 eggs
• a cup or so of sliced green onion
• 16 or so medium shrimps, peeled and de-veined
• the compound leaves torn off of half of a normal bunch of cilantro
• some piri-piri (Portuguese hot sauce), or a reasonable facsimilie thereof (it's sort of like Vietnamese hot sauce)
• a third or half of a loaf of stale Ciabatta bread from the fresh-baked bread department at H.E.B., cut into big chunks

Important note: This is the only bread we have found to date in College Stagnation that really works for this recipe. The bread that you add to this soup has to have character, fortitude, and endurance under water (soup), and in our experience, all other breads instantly turn to mush in the soup. You can use it when it's fresh, but it's better when it's several days old. What we usually do is buy a loaf and eat it in sandwiches that day, then let it age 3-5 days and then cut it up for soup. On the other hand, it moulds easily because there are no preservatives in it, so your mileage may vary.