Lots of Spanish food is based on peasant-style recipes, and mixed bean stew with morcilla fits into this category.

It’s quick, economical and easy to make. Although it’s a stew, it’s light enough to eat in the summer if you fancy a change from barbecues and salads.
This is my version of the Andalucian classic.

Morcilla is a black sausage made with blood, similar to the English black pudding. Don’t let the look of it put you off; the flavour is fantastic and a little goes a long way.

Use jars of cooked beans rather than soaking dried beans, although you may want to try it with dried beans. The flavour is slightly different, but I found it impossible to say whether one is superior to the other.

In my opinion, it isn’t worth the trouble of soaking the beans first. Standard jars are around 500 grammes, 400 grammes drained, and are available in most supermarkets. LIDL, priced at EUR 0.39 a jar, is the cheapest.

Grate the tomatoes and partially slice the potatoes, then break off to give uneven surfaces to release starch and thicken the stew.

This recipe freezes well, so I’ve given you a large quantity, made with whole jars of beans. However, if you want to halve the quantity, there is another way to use up the extra beans.

Sweat a large onion and a clove of garlic in some olive oil. Add a large grated tomato, a tablespoon of tomato puree, salt, pepper, some grated chilli flakes and the drained and rinsed beans. Heat through and serve with chorizo sausages or slices of lomo (cured pork) and crusty bread. Delicious!

Ingredients (for 8 servings)

•         1 jar each of chick peas, white beans and lentils, drained and rinsed.
•         300 - 400g morcilla, chopped into ½” pieces.
•         3 – 4 large potatoes, peeled and roughly sliced.
•         1 – 2 tbsps olive oil
•         1 large onion, chopped
•         1 green or red pepper, chopped
•         2 -3 cloves garlic, chopped
•         1 large or 2 medium ripe tomatoes, grated
•         2 tbsps tomato puree
•         500mls chicken stock from a cube
•         Sea salt, freshly ground black pepper
•         1 tsp paprika
•         ½ tsp ground chilli flakes
•         1 glass red wine (optional)
•         Freeze dried parsley to garnish

Heat oil in a large pan and soften onion and garlic. Add peppers, tomato and tomato puree and cook for a few minutes.

 La comida a base de morcilla

Add all other ingredients except morcilla and bring to the boil. You may need a little extra stock or water to cover everything. Simmer for an hour, then add morcilla. Cook for a further 20 – 30 minutes. The morcilla will break up and thicken the stew, but if you want some chunks of morcilla, cut it into 1” cubes rather than ½”.

Allow to stand for a few minutes before serving to allow flavours to combine. Better still, make stew the day before it is needed. Garnish with parsley and serve with crusty bread. Buen Provecho!

13 August 2009

text: Sandra Piddock / Expatica

For more recipes and ideas, visit Sandra Piddock’s website, Simply Spanish Food.

Photo credits: jlastras;  BocaDorada