ON THE MENU TODAY: A LITTLE BIT OF SPAIN

Even after over 30 years of living in the US, I still keep finding myself craving the foods I grew up with.
Some habits are really hard to break.

And, at least four times a week, you will find a Spanish dish at our dinner table. Our cuisine always includes a lot of fresh vegetables and salads, grilled meats and different kinds of soups and stews.

Today, on the menu, Fabada Asturiana ( white bean stew) from the North of Spain.

Through out the years, sometimes it was not easy to find the necessary ingredients and I had to change things up a bit, but nowadays, thanks to the Internet, that problem is over.

Here are the ingredients you will need for this fabulous and very tasty dish.

 Start with soaking your white beans over night.

 Add two smoked ham hocks.

 Four small Spanish chorizos cut in three small pieces each

A yellow onion and a clove of fresh garlic chopped

 Two tbs. of extra virgin olive oil. Any brand.

Pimenton de la Vera (Smoked sweet paprika) from Spain and a little bit of saffron

These items you can find online here.

You will also need a bouillon cube and two bay leaves.

.

illon

Put everything together in your pot, add salt and pepper and bring to a boil.

Turned heat down to low and with your lid on, cook for about an hour and a half or until your beans are soft.

When the beans are soft, I remove the ham hocks out of the pot and cut the meat in small pieces, which by the way, at this point, it just falls of the bone and I add it back into the stew.

 

 And this is the finished product. I wish you could smell it! :)

Now, this recipe also calls for blood sausage, but I omit them because my family dislikes them very much :)

Here is the full recipe:

2 large ham hocks
14 oz large dried white beans
1 onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic, chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
2 bay leaves
A few saffron threads
1/2 tsp sweet paprika
Pepper

Salt

4 small chorizos
2 Spanish blood sausages

- Soften the beans overnight in cold water.

Add chopped onion and garlic to the pan a pan containing the beans.

- Add the ham hocks and chorizos .

- Season with the bay leaf, olive oil, saffron, paprika, chicken cube salt and pepper and add just enough water to cover the ingredients.

- Bring to a boil and simmer on low heat for around 1 1/2 hours.

- Stir several times during cooking and add more water if necessary.

- Adjust the seasoning and leave to simmer until the beans are completely soft.

- Before serving, remove the meat from the pan, cut it into pieces and combine with the beans.


Enjoy!

Thank you for stopping by!

See you all soon!