Asturian Fabada (Spanish Bean Stew)

I had actually eaten this twice in Spain before I got to making it myself. Both times myself and The Bloke were in an non touristy, remote part of Spain and we has this presented to us when we were hungry and just wanted some GOOD food. And both times we were in heaven. I'm sure it is served in the tourist areas too but I haven't seen it. Its proper Spanish cuisine!

It took for my neighbour, who hails from Barcelona, to buy some for me and knock on my door with a little pack of ingredients. I have since seen the ingredients in the local Spar supermarket (photo at the bottom of this post) and I recommend if you are in a supermarket in Spain and see this - buy it and try the recipe - its lovely. And I recommend you pick up some of their dried Fabada beans - they are white beans but larger and creamier than you get in the UK and work perfectly in this dish.

Ingredients:

1 chorizo
1 morcilla (black pudding)
small piece tocino (bacon - pork belly part)
77g diced pancetta
400g fabada (white beans)
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
few threads saffron (optional)
1 tsp. smoked paprika
1 bay leaf
black pepper
salt (if needed)

Method:

Soak the bacon and fabada beans in separate bowls overnight. Drain. Put the beans in a large sauce pan with the pork belly piece, pancetta, onion, garlic and bay leaf. Add enough water to go about an inch over the top of the beans. Bring to the boil and let cook on a low heat (covered) for 1 hour and a half. Then add the whole chorizo, the whole black pudding, the saffron, paprika and black pepper. Bring back to the boil and then cook on low for a further 30 minutes. Check the beans are tender and if the sauce is too thin, reduce a little by boiling with the lid off for 5-10 minutes.

Finally, remove the sausage, black pudding and pork belly piece. Chop the sausage and pudding and put back into the stew. With the pork belly, cut off as much fat as is to your taste and roughly chop the rest. Add to the pan.

Check for seasoning (you may not need salt) and serve with crusty bread. Delicious and so very Spanish. Maybe have a glass of wine with it. I did.

 

Fabada ingredients!