FABADA ASTURIANA

A serving of Fabada Asturiana, a pork and bean stew from Asturias in northern Spain. Photo from Flavio Lorenzo Sanchez on unsplash

RECIPE: Fabada Asturiana (Asturian Pork and Bean Stew)
Serves 6-8.

Ingredients
1 pound dried fava beans (or other large, flat broad beans; in a pinch, Great Northerns)
1 large uncured pork hock
1 pound uncured pork belly, in 1 piece or several
4 short dried Spanish chorizo sausages
1/2 pound pork shoulder
1/2 pound guanciale or thick-cut pancetta
2 Korean or Spanish (morcilla/murcilla) pork blood sausages
Extra-virgin olive oil (mild, for sautéeing)
2 medium or 1 large yellow onion, peeled and quartered, root end holding each quarter together
6 large cloves garlic, cut into 2-3 pieces each
2 stalks celery, each cut in half
3 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 3-inch lengths
3-4 sprigs fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Healthy pinch saffron threads
1 teaspoon paprika (smoked OK)

Directions
Soak the fava beans overnight in water to cover by at least 2 inches. Place the hock in the middle of the beans and boil them, over very low heat, until they are just creamy (anywhere from 2-3 hours depending on the age and beginning condition of the beans). For the last hour of the boil, add the onion, garlic, carrots, celery, and herbs. Gently stir the simmering beans a few times during their cooking.

When the beans are cooked, remove the hock and, when cool enough to handle, remove the skin and shred the meat, throwing away any gristle or tendons. Drain the beans in a large colander set over a pot large enough to catch the liquid. Separate the beans from the vegetables and herbs (toss the twigs), setting aside the softened vegetables. Over high heat, reduce the bean liquid by one-half; reincorporate the vegetable pieces; mash or otherwise blend in the vegetables (an immersion blender helps here) along with 1 cup of the cooked beans so that you end up with a thick sauce. Warm the sauce and season it abundantly with salt and pepper, and mix in the saffron and paprika as well. Set aside.

While preparing the beans and their liquid, preliminarily cook all remaining meats by cutting them into small bites or chunks and crisping them in their own fat, or the fat rendered from a previous cut, or some of the olive oil. Set aside in individual portions as you do this. Cut the blood sausage into 3-4-inch lengths and be sure, when crisping it, not to burst its skin.

All of these ingredients can be set aside and refrigerated until you are ready to assemble the fabada (for that matter, the assembled fabada may be refrigerated overnight or for a couple of days, covered).. To do so, in a large casserole or cazuela, layer the beans, the meats (alternating or sprinkling about the different types of meat, except the blood sausage pieces which you will save for last), and the sauce, until you reach the top of the pot. Place the blood sausage pieces at the top, pushing them slightly into the bean and meat mass.

To cook the fabada, begin in a 350-degree oven for 45 minutes, then lower the heat to 300 degrees for an hour, and finally cook the fabada for up to 3 hours more in a very slow oven (225-250 degrees), all the time covered, until it is softly bubbling. If desired, you may remove the cover of the pot for the final 20 minutes-1/2 hour of cooking in order to brown the crust, raising the oven temperature to 375 degrees.