Iberico Foods - The Taste of Spain

The fabada recipe (butter bean and chorizo stew)

Fabada Recipe: This traditional Asturian stew combines tender butter beans, smoky chorizo, and rich flavours for the ultimate Spanish comfort food. Perfect for cold days and family gatherings, it’s a dish that brings warmth and authenticity to your table. Learn the secrets to making Fabada like a true Spaniard.
asturianfabada

While pulses are a staple food in many parts of the world, they are not very common in European cuisine. Spain, however, is one of the continent’s leading consumers of legumes, with many earthy legume-based stews. One possible explanation is that the Jewish population, which was widespread in Spain, had many traditional dishes that included legumes. When the Jews were expelled from the country, some of them decided to become Christians to stay and keep their homes and possessions. Those who remained continued to cook the traditional recipes, but always added a piece of pork to prove that they had truly converted to Christianity.

The following recipe was given to me by a friend that defines herself as a “fabada taliban”, and she would never forgive an incorrect fabada recipe. I hope she will allow us not to use Asturian fabes, as they are very hard to find in the UK.

Ingredients:

1kg butter bean

2 large fresh chorizo

2 large asturian morcilla

300g of panceta

1 onion

3 garlic cloves

Olive oil

Salt, saffron and smoked paprika

How to cook:

  1.  Soak the beans the night before (approximately 12 hours before) in a container with water.
  2. Put all the ingredients in a pot (except salt and oil), cover it with cold water in sufficient quantity to cover one finger above the beans. The onion we will put it whole and the cloves of garlic, too.
  3. Bring to boil, at this moment we will see that it has formed on the surface an ugly foam product of the impurities of the stew itself and we remove it with a skimmer or ladle.
  4. We add half a glass of cold water to (scare) the beans with this we cut the cooking and avoid that the beans lose their skin during the cooking. Repeat this step once or twice more, cover the pot and let it cook over low heat.
  5. Continue cooking with the pot slightly uncovered on low heat for about an hour and a half, or less time if it is on higher heat. In any case, the cooking time is always relative and depends on the quality of the beans, some need more time and others less.
  6. Watch from time to time and as the water is consumed, add cold water to stop the boiling and prevent the beans from breaking.
  7. Avoid stirring the fabada with any device during cooking or you will break the beans, it is enough to stir the pot in back and forth movements, so you will get the mixture of all the ingredients.
  8. When the beans are soft, tender and whole, you should try and if they need salt, add, almost always put some salt (sometimes with the salt of the compango is enough), leave on the fire a few minutes more. At this point the onion will be cooked, pass it to the blender with some beans, a little liquid from cooking, the teaspoon of paprika and saffron threads, grind everything and add it to the pot. Cook for a few more minutes.
  9. Turn off the heat, let stand for a few minutes so that the broth acquires body and a slight thickness.
  10. Drizzle with a very thin trickle of extra virgin olive oil (optional) and serve.

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