Puré hortelano

This puréed soup hails from the farmlands of Andalusia and gets its name from huertas, the local commercial vegetable gardens which are something like truck farms. In fact, there is a whole family of Spanish dishes called hortalizas, made with the vegetables harvested from huertas, and puré hortelano is one of them. It is traditionally made with chard, spinach, onion, leeks, and salicornia (sea asparagus); thickened with bread crumbs, and served with a sliced hard-boiled egg in the soup, preferably with some toasted bread on the side.