European Recipe ❘ Fabada

A traditional Spanish bean and ham dish, from the Asturias region.

Ingredients

• 1 pound dried Asturian fabada beans or dried lima beans
• ¼ pound salt pork
• 10 cups water
• ½ teaspoon crushed saffron threads
• 8 ounces serrano ham, cut into 1/4-inch cubes
• 8 ounces Spanish chorizo sausage, casing removed, sliced 1/2-inch thick
• 8 ounces morcilla sausage or blood sausage, sliced 1/2-inch thick
• 1 bay leaf

Cooking Directions

1. Cover beans with ample hot water and allow to stand overnight.
2. Fill a Dutch oven 1/2 full with water and bring to a boil over high heat. Add salt pork, and allow to boil for 5 minutes, then remove. Pour out water.
3. Drain water from beans and place them into Dutch oven. Pour in 10 cups of water, then bring to a boil over high heat. Boil for 15 minutes, skimming and discarding the foam that forms on top. Stir in saffron, salt pork, and diced ham; simmer for 5 minutes. Add the chorizo and morcilla sausages, and cook for 5 minutes more. Skim any foam that forms on top.
4. Reduce heat to low, add bay leaf, cover, and simmer until the beans are tender, 2 to 3 hours, adding water if needed to keep beans moist. Allow beans to stand for 20 minutes off of the heat before serving.

Nutrition Facts

• calories602.8
• carbohydrateContent36.8 g
• cholesterolContent91 mg
• fatContent38.7 g
• fiberContent10.8 g
• proteinContent26.5 g
• saturatedFatContent14.5 g
• sodiumContent1202.1 mg
• sugarContent5.2 g