Spanish chorizo and chickpea stew

Spanish chorizo and chickpea stew

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My most recent summer holidays was in Asturias, a region of North Western Spain famous for its beautiful landscape and great food, and on several occasions we enjoyed one of the traditional dishes over there, the Asturian poté. This Asturian stew is made with typical regional ingredients such as the the collard greens, a cabbage called “Berza”a in Spanish, Asturian chorizo and morcilla, two kinds of regional Spanish sausage very recognizable for their smoky flavour, and potatoes or rice. I am not lying when I say that this is one of the best dishes I have ever eaten in my life. Back in Barcelona I really wanted to repeat this nice and cheerful stew, but with more common ingredients. This chorizo and chickpea stew recipe is prevalent in Spain, it is made with Asturian chorizo, bacon, spinach, celery and tomatoes. The smoky flavour of Asturian chorizo, mixed with the paprika, reminds me of the Asturian stew, and brings me the same joy  that I felt in Asturias.

 

I like it because:

  • This recipe can be prepared either as a stew or as a soup by adding more water to the pot.
  • It is very filling and comforting, perfect as a winter dish.
  • The more you reheat the dish, the better it tastes, so you can  keep it for several meals.
  • It warms all the house with its exquisite smell while you cook.


Tricks:

  • Try to cook the stew one day before the meal because this kind of dish is always better when it rests one night in the fridge.
  • Regarding the chickpeas, I really prefer the dry ones because they are tastier and firmer once cooked, but they must be rehydrated by resting for at least 12 hours in 3 times their volume of water before cooking. In order to always have chickpeas ready to cook, I freeze them once they spent 12 hours in the water, and unfreeze them just before cooking. The ultimate option is to buy the chickpeas frozen or in a can, they will have less flavour but it helps a lot time to time. I don’t recommend the quick  rehydration solution that you can find online, it does not really work and the chickpeas stay a bit hard.
  • The chorizo exists in 2 different versions, one is firm dry meat for the aperitif, very common in Spain, and the other is a tender short sausage for the cooking, so make sure you use this second one for the stew.
  •   If you don’t have fresh tomatoes, use a can of peeled tomatoes and mix them yourself with a hand mixer, instead of a can of crushed tomatoes, they will taste much better that way.
  • The stew must cook at least 1 hour so that all the ingredients are tender and melt in the mouth.

Bon appétit!

 

 

 

2 Comments

  1. I made this soup over the weekend and it came out fantastic. I had a similar soup when I was on vacation in Cordoba and had been looking for a recipe to try to recreate it. I’m in the US and it’s not easy to find authentic Spanish chorizo where I am, so I used a good Portuguese chourico as it seemed like the closest substitute. It still came out delicious.

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