In a town where fast food chains are taking over the hospitality scene, I'd like to keep offering to your family recipes that are economical, nutritionally delicious and perfect for the cold season ahead. As you know, I love eating with a spoon and pulses are a very important part of Spanish traditional food.

Thanks to my cooking classes here in Orange, I've realised that many people are quite afraid of cooking with dry pulses. That's why today I'm going to share with you one of the most traditional recipes you’ll find in the Iberian Peninsula: judias con chorizo (beans with chorizo).

First things first, allow me to tell you that beans are an amazing source of protein, fibre, iron and heaps of antioxidants — essential for your diet — especially the dry ones! I know we always talk about the lack of time to cook slow food at home, but trust me when I tell you that your pocket and tastebuds will feel the difference.

Here are the three basics things you need to know about dry beans,to help you understand what to do with them:

First, you need to soak them overnight (super important).

Second, if you want to end up with a perfect-looking bean at the end of your cooking (instead of skins falling off, broken beans, etc..) you need to learn the Spanish technique of 'scare the beans'. This is the literal translation of the Spanish name for a very simple process where you adjust the temperature of the boiling cooking liquid by adding a glass of cold water (which must be done three times).

Third, you don't need to spend a lot of time chopping your vegetables really small, because your sauce will be made by blending the cooked vegetables with some of the liquid at the end. This a very smart way to create a rich and thick sauce without having to add any starch to it!

I really hope you give this traditional Autumn recipe a try, part of our humbled and rustic 'cocina de aprovechamiento', the zero-waste home cooking approach we learned from our grandmothers when we were kids. 

Please make sure to cut this recipe out and put it on your fridge, your family will love it!

Ingredients:

·      400g large dry beans

·      4 garlic cloves, peeled

·      1 Onion, chopped in half

·      1 carrot chopped in half

·      1 crushed tomato tin

·       200g fresh chorizo (whole)

·       10 g Smoked pimentón (Spanish paprika)

·       Splash extra virgin olive oil

·       2 Bay leave

·       Salt 

·       Water

·       Optional: fresh thyme to serve as garnish.

 

Method:

1.    Soak the beans the night before so they are hydrated. The next morning, drain the beans and wash them well under the tap. Place them in a pot and add enough cold water to cover them.

2.    Bring it to a boil, you’ll see the beans release foam and impurities that we need to remove. In order to do this, pass the beans through a strainer and rinse them well under the tap. Return the bean to the pot, along with the vegetables, peeled and roughly chopped. Add the whole chorizos, smoked paprika, oil and bay leaves.

3.    Cover everything with cold water again and turn your stove on. Bring it to a boil. When this happens we need to add a glass of cold water (this step is called to ‘scare the beans’, it is a Spanish technique in order to keep the skin from the beans intact, so they are whole and look perfect at the end of the cooking process). FYI we will have to repeat this process twice more (remember, bring it to a boil and then add a glass of cold water).

4.    Once the beans have been ‘scared’ 3 times, cover the pot and cook them on low heat for one-and-a-half to two hours (remember, the older the beans are the more time they need to cook). After this time, taste to test the texture of the beans. Are they soft and ready? Perfect. Are they not? Give them another 30 minutes.

5.    Remove the vegetables and chorizo from the pot. Put the chorizo aside on a plate.

6.     Meanwhile, blend all the veggies together with a little bit of the cooking liquid, making a puree. Return this sauce to the pot with the beans and stir gently until everything combines.

7.    IMPORTANT! Taste again and adjust the seasoning (please do not do it before this moment or the bean may not cook evenly).

8.    To serve: slice the chorizo and serve everything while it’s piping hot. Add a bit of fresh thyme on top if you like.

Enjoy!