Monday, January 10, 2011

White bean stew


plated beans
Originally uploaded by EatingVideo
This dish is a variation of a fabada which is an asturian dish (from Asturia Spain) which combines common or ingredients into a bean dish. These were family subsistence meals where in one pot you can feed many people and stretch the budget. The main ingredient is the bean. I bought some very large dried white beans "alubias judion" from La Tienda.

judionas

tag

I soaked the beans overnight, and was a little worried as some of them split in half, some others lost their husk

soaking

but I got over it, after chatting with my mother and asking her if I should peel the beans or what. She told me to leave them alone. (mother is always right)
I then got my ingredients in order

One onion
2 bunches of green onion
one whole head of garlic
2 bay leaves

prep

1 tbsp of thyme
2 tbsp of pimenton (smoked paprika) sweet
2 morcilla links (blood pudding sausage)
1 piece of hard cured chorizo
strand of soft non cured chorizo
1 piece of salt cured ham (prosciotto or serrano)
1 large slice of head cheese (I made this)
1 large slice of cured pork loin (la tienda)
1/2 cup of roasted red pepper
1 tbsp of capers
black pepper to taste

I cut a large piece of ham off my La Quercia Paleta

paleta

ham

and began to render it in some olive oil in a large stock pot

ham

I then added the onions, bay leaves and green onions and sauteed till only slightly brown

onions

I added the morcilla to brown it and render some fat but then removed it so it wouldn't burst in the stew

morcilla

I made a puree of roasted red peppers with capers by using an immersion blender and adding a bit of water.

roasted pepper and capers

then blended to form a sauce

puree

at this point I added the pimenton to the onions sauteed quickly as it will burn and then added the pepper puree to deglaze the pan

pepper puree deglaze

I let it cook for a minute or two then added the beans and the meats

meats

I added water to cover it all as well as the whole head of garlic and returned the morcilla to the pan

floating morcilla

I cooked it for 4 hours which was when the beans were tender. I actually let it cool and placed it in the fridge at this point to let the flavors meld. The next day (what is this day 3 of this dish!) I blanched some kale

blanched kale

and added it to the beans as they reheated. The finished product was spectacular. the beans are soft but not mush, they retain their individuality, the pork flavor is perfect with the ham retaining it's flavor and melding with the head cheese and chorizo with the morcilla being perfect. The Kale adds some nice color and contrast. If you have the time I highly reccomend trying this or a variation on this dish.

plated beans

I've got plenty of leftovers (as usual) so i'll be working my way through it.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Looks great. I wish La Tienda wasn't so pricey. A puertoriqueño I work with complains about not being able to find EBRO chorizo up here. I did find it in Orlando at a supermercado.

BaconGrease said...

At the latin market on broad they sometimes have chorizo in the refridgerated section, but it's a bit hit or miss

Borinkeando said...

Bacon, que diera por comerme un poquito de esa fabada o guiso que hiciste... pero tienes la suerte conseguir todos esos chorizos, que delicia!! Acá los que traen son muy pocos y algunos no son muy buenos.. te diste tremendo botaste con este guiso! por no decir hartera , jajaja!

entre a el link,pero comprar algo desde PR seria muy costoso por el flete..

BaconGrease said...

tambien se podrian substituir un buen pedazo de lechon, unas morcillas boricuas, quedaria de pelicula. (acabo de comerme otro plato de almuerzo, sigue bueno)

veron said...

what a hearty stew. I love white beans. And I'm envious of that leg of ham!

BaconGrease said...

The leg of ham is overkill, It's part of the cured pig share I bought with my brothers from La Quercia. The beans are excellent, unfortunately as cfootsoup points out they are hard to find

shannon said...

Terriffic Post- you always have such nice pics. I learned a lot. Thanks!

Borinkeando said...

Conseguí los chorizos Palacios en Costco... si sigue fresquito en las próximas noche me preparo mi guiso...