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!
Spanish chorizo and chickpea stew
2 December 2015
Category
Easy dishes
Potatoes
Spain
Stews
Winter recipes
Spanish chorizo and chickpea stew
Ingredients
- 7 oz (200g) dry chickpeas or 14 oz (400g) frozen or canned chickpeas
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 3 cooking chorizo, if Asturian's better
- 1 fresh onion
- 3 cloves garlic
- 2 celery branches
- 1 leek
- Seasoning: salt, pepper, grounded coriander seeds ...
- 5 1/2 US cup (1.3 liter) hot water for the broth
- 2 cubes vegetable or spice broth
- 4 fresh tomatoes or a 14 oz (400g) can peeled tomatoes
- 10,5 oz (300g) fresh spinach
- 1 tbsp paprika
- 7 potatoes
Instructions
- PREPARATION: Soak the dry chickpeas in 3 times their volume of water, with the bicarbonate of soda, at least 12 hours before cooking.
- Cut the chorizo into small pieces and fry them in a large pot over medium heat until the fat soaks. If you want, you can take the fat off the pot for a lighter dish.
- Chop the fresh onion, garlic, celery and leek, and drop all these ingredients into the pot once the sausage is fried. Mix well, add salt, pepper and grounded coriander seeds, cover and simmer the mixture for about 15 minutes over low heat.
- In the meantime, prepare the rest of the ingredients:
- Heat the water in a kettle.
- If you use a can of peeled tomatoes, mix the tomatoes and their juice with a hand mixer.
- Remove the chickpeas from their water and rinse them.
- Clean and chop the spinach into small pieces.
- When the sauce is ready, incorporate the tomatoes, chickpeas, spinach, paprika, water and broth cubes into the pot, cover and simmer for 1 hour over low heat, incorporating the potatoes, peeled and cut into medium pieces, 25 minutes before the end.
- Eat the stew while it is very hot, alongside a piece of bread if you like. The more you reheat the dish, the better it tastes, so you can keep it for several meals.
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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.
Thanks Molly!! I’m glad to hear that you liked it. I don’t know Portuguese chorizo but I am sure that it’s very similar to the one I use.