Clam Consommé

Ingredients

• 1 dozen clams
• tomato
• onion
• leeks
• parsley
• bay leaf
• mint
• thyme
• salt
• manteca (lard)
• crab tails
• bread
• 2–3 yolks hard-boiled egg
• fine olive oil

Instructions

1. For each bowl of soup, cook one dozen clams until tender, then remove them from their shells and set aside, reserving the cooking liquid.
2. In the clam broth, add tomato, onion, leeks, parsley, bay leaf, mint (hierbabuena), thyme, salt, and a piece of fresh manteca (lard). Let this simmer for a time to develop flavor.
3. Return the shelled clams to the broth and simmer briefly until they are warmed through.
4. Separately, prepare crab tails and small slices of bread fried in manteca, arranging them in a soup tureen.
5. Thicken the consommé by crushing 2 or 3 hard-boiled egg yolks in a mortar and loosening them with a little fine olive oil, then stir this mixture into the hot broth to bind it.
6. Pour the consommé into the tureen with the garnish and serve.