When we travelled to the distant north of Spain, we bought back some foodie memories with us. Well, a little more than memories, we bought back beans and smoked meats to make the famous Fabada.
It´s one of those dishes which needs the authentic smoked blood sausage (morcilla), chorizo and pork to achieve the “real” taste, but it also lends itself to “making do” depending on the ingredients you have to hand.
The ingredients given below can be interpreted fairly loosely to make a lovely bean, ham and sausage stew if you can´t get hold of the Asturian versions. I also like to be lighter with the meat than some people, so feel free to add more. This recipe will serve six as a main course, but it does keep well for about 5 days in the fridge.
You´ll need
- 1kg of Fabes (or any large dried white beans)
- 1 small blood sausage
- 1 or 2 chorizo (depending on the size)
- About 100g piece of smoked or unsmoked or salted pancetta or pork belly (or use chunky lardons)
- ½ teaspoon of saffron or add a teaspoon of sweet smoked paprika or pimentón instead
- 2 bay leaves
This dish really improves by making it the day before you want to eat it, although it´s not essential, and if you have an earthenware bowl to cook it in, even better! The day before making the dish put your beans into soak in plenty of water. In a separate bowl of water soak any smoked or salted meats.
Using the water you soaked the beans in, put them in your cooking pot with about a depth of 3cm of water above them. Bring to the boil then skim off the froth which will appear. Dissolve the saffron in a little water and add to the beans (or add your pimentón or paprika directly to the water). Now add the pork belly or pancetta, bring to the boil and skim and then repeat with the chorizo and morcilla.
Add the bay leaves, make sure all the meat is pushed to the bottom and then cook very slowly for about 2 or 3 hours. Try not to stir as this will break the beans, shake the pot if necessary and top up with boiling water if needed.
You should be left with thick creamy beans which still hold their shape. I like to thinly slice the meats and sausages so they can easily be eaten with a spoon. This is a “plato de cuchara” or a “spoon dish” as they call it here.
Serve with a good robust red wine, plenty of bread and I like a tomato and garlic salad on the side. ¡Buen Provecho!
Chica Andaluza 