Fabada Asturiana

Fri May 23, 2014 by Bill Farmer. Categories: Recipes .

A highly flavoured Asturian version of pork and beans. Enough for four or more.

375g or thereabouts packet of dried butter beans
4-500g belly pork with or without skin, cut into chunks
Smoked gammon hock, or 4-500g cooking bacon. If lucky, it’s possible to find a packet of cooking bacon that is just one big chunk of unsliced bacon by rooting through the supermarket shelf.
100-125g picante chorizo, cut into chunks
Crushed black peppercorns
Heaped teaspoon paprika
Heaped teaspoon turmeric
2 bay leaves
4-5 garlic cloves, chopped
3-4 onions, chopped
Olive oil
Water

Soak the beans overnight in plenty of water.
Cover the bottom of a large pan with a few glugs of olive oil and place on a lowish heat.
Add the pork and gammon hock or bacon and the chorizo.
Add the garlic, onions, bay leaves, black pepper, paprika and turmeric, cover and allow to cook gently until the pork is looking cooked.
Drain the beans, rinse and pour into the pan.
Cover the beans with water and replace the lid.
When the pan comes to the boil, allow to boil for a few minutes, then turn the heat right down to a gentle simmer.
Allow to simmer for 2-3 hours. If using a gammon hock, take it out before it disintegrates , and remove the bones, chop up the meat and return it to the pan.

This goes well with green cabbage.

Bill Farmer