Migas – recipe

February 19, 2021

Just like açordas, migas are a type of savory bread recipe made to repurpose stale bread. While açordas resemble the consistency of porridge, migas are cooked until they form a sort of cake with a more binded texture.

You can find dishes with the same name in a few other countries around the world. Migas are popular not only in Portugal, but also in Spain and Mexico. Even though everyone uses leftover bread to prepare this dish, every country has their own take on the recipe with several added ingredients and particularly quite distinct seasonings.

In Portugal, you will come across two main different types of migas. In the Alentejo, migas are prepared with rustic wheat bread, while in the centre of the country, in the Beiras region, cornbread is the base ingredient. All migas are cooked with olive oil and garlic, but the remaining ingredients vary from vegetables and greens to beans. Migas are served as a side dish to main meals, mostly keeping company to heavy meaty dishes.

Migas with asparagus – ingredients for 4 servings:

250g asparagus

500g rustic bread (sourdough or Pão Alentejano preferred)

80ml olive oil

2 egg yolks

3 garlic cloves

Salt & pepper to taste

Recipe directions:

Remove the harder white part of the asparagus stems and boil in salted water for about 8 minutes. Once soft, remove from the pot, and let the water cool down.

In a deep bowl, place the bread cut into slices. Once the water is warm, pour on top of the bread. After it has moistened and softened, drain the excess water and shred the bread coarsely with your own hands.

In a pan, heat the olive oil and fry the chopped garlic until golden. Add the bread and the asparagus cut into little pieces. Mix and allow to fry until the bread starts changing its texture. Add the beaten egg yolks and mix to bind. Season with salt and pepper to taste and cook some more until your bread cake, shaped like in the image above, starts getting a golden crispy outside layer, while remaining soft and moist on the inside.

Serve with meat or your favorite dish, and wash down with Portuguese wine.

a plate of food with a slice of orange

Have you tried a traditional Portuguese recipe using old bread?

Let us know about your experiences in the kitchen below in the comments, on Facebook or Instagram by tagging us @tasteoflisboa #tasteoflisboa

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