Fabada Asturiana
Asturian bean stew: large white fabes beans braised slow with chorizo, morcilla and pork shoulder until everything melts together into a rust-coloured, deeply savoury bowl. The Sunday-lunch-and-Monday-leftovers dish of northwest Spain.
Overview
Soaked fabes beans simmer with cooking chorizo, morcilla (Spanish blood sausage) and a piece of pork belly or shoulder, with a touch of saffron and smoked paprika. The whole thing braises slowly until the beans are soft and the broth is dark and unctuous.
Ingredients
- 500 g fabes (or large dried butter beans / cannellini), soaked overnight in cold water
- 200 g pork belly in one piece, or pork shoulder
- 2 cooking chorizo sausages (about 200 g)
- 2 morcilla sausages (about 200 g) (or substitute black pudding)
- 1 onion (whole)
- 1 head garlic (whole, top sliced off to expose cloves)
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 large pinch saffron threads
- 1 teaspoon sweet smoked paprika
- Salt
- Crusty bread, to serve
Method
Stage 1 - Start the stew
- Drain the soaked beans. Place in a large heavy pan with the pork, chorizo and morcilla.
- Add the whole onion, head of garlic, bay leaves and enough cold water to cover by 5 cm.
- Bring slowly to the boil; skim any scum.
Stage 2 - Slow simmer
- Reduce the heat so the surface barely shivers.
- Crumble in the saffron and stir in the smoked paprika.
- Cover loosely and cook 2 hours, scaring the surface occasionally with a wooden spoon to prevent sticking. The liquid should reduce slowly into a thick broth.
- Don't add salt until the beans are tender; salt before that toughens them.
Stage 3 - Finish
- After 2 hours, taste a bean; it should be soft and creamy. If still firm, simmer another 30 minutes.
- Lift out the meats, slice into chunks (chorizo into 2 cm rounds, morcilla into 2 cm rounds, pork into chunks).
- Discard the onion, bay and head of garlic. Return the meats to the beans.
- Season with salt; the broth should be glossy and slightly thickened.
Stage 4 - Serve
- Ladle into deep bowls. Crusty bread alongside; a chilled cider (Asturian sidra) is the traditional pairing.
Notes
- Don't salt the beans early: Salt before the beans soften causes them to seize and stay tough. Add only at the end.
- Authentic fabes are huge: Big white beans the size of broad beans. Large butter beans or cannellini work; lima beans are similar.
- Morcilla is the soul: If you can't find Spanish morcilla, black pudding from a butcher gives a similar effect.
Storage
- Improves overnight. Keeps 4 days refrigerated.
- Freezes 3 months.
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