ALONG THE SPOON-FOOD TRAIL

Prepare your spoons! Stew with chickpeas, chard and sausages.

Tuck your napkin under your chin and get your spoons at the ready because we’re off on the “spoon trail.” The comida de cuchara—a meal eaten with a spoon—is favorite fare in Spain, especially in blustery winter weather. In today’s high-powered world, even well-heeled businessmen and politicos have a weakness for comforting bowls of spoon food—lentils like mamá used to make or abuela’s potaje.


So, when a visiting friend, Lars Kronmark, who is a chef-instructor of culinary arts at the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) at Greystone in Napa Valley, California, said he wanted to taste some typical Spanish soups, I looked to village bar-restaurants for traditional dishes.

During January, February and March, every Friday and Saturday in my town, Mijas Pueblo, a dozen bars are participating in the Ruta del Cuchareo, or “route of the spoon,” offering a cazuelita (earthenware ramekin) of soup or stew plus a glass of wine for just €2 (about $2.70).

We weren’t going from bar to bar, so I chose one, El Refugio (www.barelrefugio.es), for a spoon-food tasting menu for six persons. We had several salads and tapas as starters, then sampled three different soups/stews.

Lars serves a bowl of berza.

 Are they soups or stews? I had trouble deciding what to call them when I was writing recipes for my cookbooks. Most have either legumes, such as chickpeas or beans, or rice. Some are really soupy, others fairly thick. In Spanish, the word potaje covers this category nicely. But “pottage” in English doesn’t sound so enticing. 

Soupy rice and seafood.

Cazuela de arroz—rice with chicken, fish and shrimp—is sort of a “paella soup.” Carlos Boeta, owner of the Bar El Refugio, told us that making a flavorful fondo, or stock, is the most important part. My recipe for cazuela de arroz makes a rice dish not so soupy as the one shown here.

Because this week is the día de San Antón, the festival of St. Anthony Abbot, patron of pigs and other animals, we had to sample the typical feast-day food, potaje de callos, chickpeas, pig tripe, trotter and sausages. That recipe as well as some photos of the fiesta, when locals bring their pets to be blessed by the priest, is here .

Chickpeas, pig tripe and sausages for San Antón day.

And, possibly my favorite soup/stew of all—berza de acelga, an Andalusian vegetable stew chock full of chickpeas, meat, sausages, chard and other vegetables. The version served at El Refugio, made by the cook, Rocio, is soupier than my version, pictured at the top. I wrote about berza on an earlier blog post http://mykitcheninspain.blogspot.com.es/2011/03/carnaval-pre-lenten-pig-out.html. Here is that recipe.

Berza, with chickpeas and chard, at Bar El Refugio, Mijas.

Andalusian Vegetable Stew
Berza Andaluza


Morcilla, blood sausage, and chorizo punch up the flavor in this vegetable stew. If you don’t have morcilla, add a pinch of clove, a spoonful of pimentón (paprika) and crushed garlic to the vegetable pot.

Serves 6.

½  pound chickpeas, soaked overnight
¾  pound beef shin or pork shoulder
½  pound meaty pork spareribs, cut crosswise into short lengths
Small piece of ham bone (optional)
2 ounces pancetta
1-pound bunch of chard
1 carrot, chopped
1 pound pumpkin or winter squash, peeled and cut in chunks
6 ounces morcilla (blood) sausage
6 ounces chorizo
5 peppercorns
1 teaspoon salt
1 pound potatoes, peeled and cut in 1-inch chunks

Drain the chickpeas. Put them in a large soup pot with 8 cups of hot water. Bring to a boil and skim off froth. Add the beef, pork rib and ham bone, if using. When water boils, skim again.  Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 1 hour.

Chop the chard. Add to the pot with the carrot and pumpkin. Prick the morcilla several times with a skewer (so it doesn’t pop open when steam accumulates) and add it to the pot. Add the peppercorns and salt. Cover and simmer 20 minutes more.

Add the potatoes. Cook 20 minutes more. Remove several chunks of potatoes and pumpkin and mash them smooth. Stir the mash into the pot to thicken the broth.

Let the stew settle 10 minutes before serving. Cut beef, pork rib, and sausage into pieces. Serve the chickpeas, meats, vegetables and broth in shallow soup dishes.

CARNAVAL--A PRE-LENTEN PIG-OUT

On a sunny Sunday in Málaga, neighbors gathered for a Carnaval street party featuring music and a hearty traditional stew called berza.  Forty kilos (almost 90 pounds) of chickpeas along with a similar amount of sausages and pork went into four enormous ollas, stew pots, making enough to serve 800 people.  Local politicians (municipal elections are in May) came along to stir the pots and chat with constituents.  Bands of murgas y comparsas, singers performing ribald and satirical numbers, entertained the crowds, warming up for the contests that take place during Carnaval.

Carnaval—the Spanish version of Mardi Gras—celebrates Don Carnal, Mister Flesh-pot, a last pig-out before Lenten austerity. Into the pot go the tag ends of winter’s ham, salted pork belly, sausages (phallic symbol intended)  along with chickpeas and vegetables. Chock full of fatty meat and succulent pork belly, it’s the sort of meal that would send old Jack Sprat into shock and fill his wife with glee.

Then, once Lent begins, chickpea stews with spinach or salt cod replace the porky stuff. 

Look here for more about garbanzos (chickpeas) and additional recipes in my article, "Spain Elevates the Garbanzo Bean," in this week’s Food section of the Los Angeles Times.

Andalusian Vegetable and Sausage Stew
Berza Andaluza


Morcilla, blood sausage, and chorizo, garlic-pimentón sausage, punch up the flavor in this vegetable stew. If you don’t have morcilla, add a pinch of clove, a spoonful of pimentón (paprika) and crushed garlic to the vegetable pot.

Serves 6.

½  pound chickpeas, soaked overnight
¾  pound beef shin or pork shoulder
½  pound meaty pork spareribs, cut crosswise into short lengths
small piece of ham bone (optional)
2 ounces pancetta
12-ounce bunch of chard
1 carrot, chopped
½ pound pumpkin or winter squash, peeled and cut in chunks
6 ounces morcilla (blood) sausage
6 ounces chorizo
5 peppercorns
1 teaspoon salt
1 pound potatoes, peeled and cut in 1-inch chunks

Drain the chickpeas of soaking water. Put them in a large soup pot with 8 cups of hot water. Bring to a boil and skim off froth. Add the beef, pork rib, ham bone, if using, and pancetta. When water boils, skim again.  Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 1 hour.

Chop the chard. Add to the pot with the carrot and pumpkin. Prick the morcilla and chorizo several times with a skewer (so they don’t pop open when steam accumulates) and add them to the pot. Add the peppercorns and salt. Cover and simmer 30 minutes more.

Add the potatoes. Cook 30 minutes more. Remove several chunks of potatoes and pumpkin and mash them smooth. Stir the mash into the pot to thicken the broth.

Let the stew settle 10 minutes before serving. Use kitchen scissors to cut beef, pork rib, and sausage into pieces. Serve the chickpeas, meats, vegetables and broth in shallow soup dishes.

Berza is an Andalusian stew with garbanzos, sausage and chard.

Spinach with Chickpeas
Espinacas con Garbanzos


This is popular in tapa bars in Seville.

Makes 8 tapas or 4 main dishes.

12 ounces washed and chopped spinach or chard leaves
3 tablespoons olive oil
½ onion, chopped
1 tomato, peeled, seeded, and chopped
2 (20-oz) jars chickpeas
1/8 teaspoon saffron threads
2 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
½ teaspoon coarse salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons smoked pimentón
¼ teaspoon ground cumin
½ cup water
2 tablespoons wine vinegar

Place the spinach in a pot with a little water. Bring to a boil and cook until spinach is wilted. Drain and reserve.

Heat the oil in a deep skillet or earthenware cazuela. Sauté the onion until softened, 3 minutes. Add the tomato and sauté 2 minutes.

Crush the saffron in a mortar. Add the garlic and salt and grind the garlic to a paste. (This can also be done in a blender.) Add the pepper, pimentón and cumin. Stir the water into the paste. Add the spice mixture to the pan. Add the chickpeas without draining. Add the spinach and vinegar. Bring to a boil then reduce heat.

Cover the pan and simmer the chickpeas 15 minutes. Serve hot.