Fabada Asturiana

So i decided to post a recipe today. Am lucky as my mum has been a professional cook for 55 years and i know most people think their mum can cook but really, my mum really really can!!!

As my folk are from Spain, Spanish cuisine is her forte, here is one of my favourite dishes that i was lucky enough to eat today as a tapa:

Fabada Asturiana is an incredibly delicious hearty Asturian bean casserole which is very popular in Spain and is often served (believe it or not) as a starter...which gives you some idea to the countries appetite capacity...mum's version is second to none...

Ingredients:
Fabada
2 Litres meat stock (plus a little extra if the beans get dry)
4 chorizo sausages
(optional) 1 morcilla (black pudding) sausage
1 piece of salted pork belly (anything up to 500g)
(optio nal) 1 salted pork bone
Half small onion roughly chopped
1 big clove garlic roughly chopped
*1 kilo dried haricot beans (soaked the day before)
I sachet of saffron
Quarter teaspoon cayenne/chilli powder
olive oil
salt to taste (at the end of cooking)

Refrito/Rostrido
200 ml good olive oil
1 large clove garlic chopped
half tablespoon sweet paprika

*any kind of large dried white bean will do as long as they don't have tough skins. My mum uses "fabas de Lorenzà". Note you should soak them overnight, then you can use hot stock. If you have dried beans that don't require soaking, you must add COLD stock and then bring to the boil.

Pour a generous glug of oil into a large pan with a lid, Add the chorizos, morcilla, pork belly, bone, onion, garlic, saffron, chilli powder, soaked and drained beans and 2 litres of stock, cover with lid and bring to the boil.

Meanwhile make the refrito by heating the 200ml of olive oil in a pan and adding the chopped garlic. The oil can't be too hot as it will burn the garlic. When the garlic just begins to take a little colour, take the pan off the heat and wait a minute or so till it cools a little and quickly stir in the sweet paprika (if the oil is too hot the paprika will burn).

Add the oil/garlic/paprika mixture or refrito to the now gently boiling fabada (bean casserole). Replace the lid and allow to simmer for 15 minutes. At this point you can fish out the chorizo and morcilla sausages and keep them aside for later. Leave everything else to simmer away till the beans are cooked which could be anything from another 40 - 60 minutes depending on the hardness of the beans. By then the sauce should be nicely reduced and thickened. Don't add any salt till the end as it will make the beans tough. You may find you don't need any salt at all as the dish will be seasoned by the stock, salted pancetta/pork belly and salted bone. However adjust to your own taste at the end and even add a little more chilli if you want the dish to have more of a kick. Add back the chorizo and morcilla at the end to heat through.

Fabada Asturiana is even better on the second day when the flavours and sauce have had time to really develop. My photo is of a little tapa but normally they serve the beans in a soup or pasta plate along with a couple of thick slices of the chorizos, morcilla and pork belly and mop up the copious amounts of sauce with lots of crusty bread...it does not need anything else.


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