Fabada Asturiana

All us Brits love our bangers and beans or in fact anything with beans, but we are not alone as there are other European nations that equally love bangers and beans too, although we seem to have speeded up the cooking process! This delicious bean dish comes from the Asturia region of northern Spain and is basically the Spanish version of bangers and beans, only better! Also very similar to Cassoulet, the French version of bangers and beans.

This dish is called Fabada named after the fabe or fava beans used in the recipe and is found all over Spain, but sometimes different beans are used and often the dish is also named after the region it is cooked in.

This is also an easy cheat meal too as I normally use a large tin of butter beans or any other large white bean instead of soaking the dried beans overnight etc etc. For a quick result you can use passata and if you can’t get the Spanish morcilla (blood sausage) then just use normal black pudding, some pieces of chopped up pork belly and chorizo.

Serves 4 – 6

Ingredients:

• 500g of butter beans (fabes or fava)
• 2 black puddings (morcilla if available)
• 500g cured pork belly
• 2 chorizo sausages
• 1 large onion peeled and cut in half
• 1 head of garlic peeled
• 1 tbsp dulce pimentón (smoked paprika the sweet one)
• 4 -5 threads of saffron

Preparation method:

Start preparing this the day before by soaking the beans overnight in water.

Drain the beans and transfer them to a large pot, cazuela or casserole dish. Add the onion halves, garlic head the tablespoon of pimentón, saffron and pork belly then add 12 cups of cold water. Bring to a boil then reduce the heat and let it simmer making sure the pork is pushed under the cooking liquid until the beans are almost tender, which will take about 1 hour and 30 minutes.

Add the chorizos and the morcilla or black pudding to the stew and cook until the meat and beans are tender and the cooking liquid is thick and slightly reduced, which is approx. 45 minutes longer.

Never stir the beans as this breaks them up. Just give the pot or casserole a shake. Remove the the onion and garlic and transfer all the meat to a bowl. Cut the pork belly, chorizo and morcilla into bite size chunks then add the meat to the beans and season lightly with salt and pepper. If cooked in a pot I would pour the beans into a cazuela and place the cooked meat on top before serving.

Enjoy!