Karista's Kitchen

Spanish White Bean Stew

Cooking is always an adventure in my kitchen.  Especially when I’m testing a new recipe.  Or a new recipe idea.

I have lots of ideas.

My version of Fabada

Some of them end up in the compost.  Yep… even I can create a few recipe stinkers.

Uli's Spanish Chorizo

This was a disastrous stinker.  One that I wasn’t sure I could turn into a triumph.

I kid you not.

I won’t go into details.  It’s too painful.  Let’s just say it involved the compost bin.

Smoked Paprika

I thought ALL was lost at one point.  But I pulled on my most clever culinary thinking cap and thankfully my disastrous stinker of a recipe idea came together.  Phew!

Because if it didn’t work out, the Bennett Crew would be eating Pizza tonight.

And they had pizza last night.  Another story for another day. 

Spanish White Bean Stew

This is my version of the absolutely fantastic Fabada Asturiana. A slow cooked and richly flavored Spanish stew.

It’s typically prepared with large Asturian white beans (Fabes), different types of sausages such as Blood sausage and Spanish chorizo and smoked paprika.  Because we can’t always find traditional Spanish meats, sausages and large white beans here in the States, I created my own little version.  Certainly far from the traditional stew, but still richly flavored, beautiful in presentation and simply prepared.

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

Extra virgin olive oil

1 large onion, finely chopped

5 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 tablespoon smoked paprika

2- 15 ounce cans white beans (I use Cannellini beans, Eden Organic is my fave brand and they are BPA free cans!)

2-3 cups chicken stock

1/2 lb Spanish Chorizo sausage (I use uncooked chorizo)

1 cup diced smoked ham, or more to taste

1 bay leaf

Salt and pepper to taste

Pinch of red pepper flakes (optional)

Directions

If using uncooked chorizo: In a large soup pot over medium heat, add a drizzle of oil and brown the chorizo.

Add the chicken stock and bay leaf  to the soup pot and very gently simmer until the chorizo is done, about 10 minutes.  If using cooked chorizo, add it at this point but no need to simmer for 10 minutes.

Next, stir in the beans, keeping heat on low.

In a sauté pan over medium heat, add about 2 tablespoons oil.  Add the onions and garlic and cook until just wilted.

Stir in the smoked paprika and cook for a minute longer.

Gently stir the onion paprika mixture into the beans and chorizo and then add the diced ham.

Let the stew gently simmer for about 10 minutes to allow the flavors to develop.  This stew gets better with time.  So if you have an hour before dinner, just let it sit on the stove, resting, and the flavor will be even better.

Serve warm with crusty bread to dunk into the stew.  Yum!

This stew will hold in the frig for several days.