Bowl of Vegetable Stew Andalusia
(click to enlarge)

Vegetable Stew Andalusia


Spain   -   Berza Andaluza
Makes:
Effort:
Sched:
DoAhead:  		 9 cups
***
3-1/4 hr
Yes		 A robust meat rich winter vegetable soup that will please all except Jews, Muslims, and Vegetarians, but see Comments.




1
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8
6
1
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4
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1l
8
11
4
11
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7
1/2
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6
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ar
c
---
oz
oz
oz
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oz
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oz
oz
oz
oz
oz
--

T
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c
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Chickpeas dry  
-- Meats
Beef (1)
Pork (2)
Salt Pork (3)
------------
Morcilla (4)
-- Vegies
Potatoes (5)
Pears, firm
Chard (6)
Carrot
Pumpkin (7)
-- Seasonings
Peppercorns
Salt
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Water
-- Garnish
Mint Leaves
Do Ahead   -   (40 min )
  1. Soak CHICKPEAS overnight or about 8 hours, with water to cover and 1 t of salt (yes, salt).
Prep   -   (1-1/4 hrs total, including times below)
  1. Peel POTATOES, cut into 1 inch cubes. and hold in cold water until needed.
  2. Peel PEARS and core. Cut into about 1 inch chunks. Add to the Potatoes.
  3. Slice CHARD STEMS about 3/4 inch long. Tear the CHARD GREENS into pieces about 1-1/2 inch. Mix.
  4. Peel CARROTS and cut into about 3/4 inch lengths. Add to Chard.
  5. Peel PUMPKIN, and cut into 1 inch cubes. Add to Chard.
Run   -   (2-1/2 hrs)
  1. Place BEEF (uncut) and PORK (uncut) in a 4 quart pot with Water to cover well. Bring to a boil over high heat and boil about 2 minutes. Pour out into a clean sink. Clean the pot and and rinse the crud off the meats.
  2. Place Chickpeas and all Meats items in the pot with 6 cups of Water and bring to a boil. As it nears boiling some light foam will rise to the top. scoop it off with a skimmer. Turn to a simmer and simmer about 1 hour.
  3. Pierce MORCILLA (uncut) with a fork in several places to release steam. Stir into the pot.
  4. Stir Chard mix and all Seasonings items into the pot. Bring back to a boil. Turn to a simmer and simmer for about 20 minutes.
  5. Drain Potato mix and stir into the pot. Bring back to a boil, then turn to a simmer for another 20 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Add more Water if needed.
  6. Turn off the heat and fish out the Meats and Morcilla. Cut into bite size pieces and mix back into the pot.
  7. Serve hot, garnished with chopped Mint Leaves.
NOTES:

  1. Beef:

      The pattern recipe calls for Beef Shin, or Brisket - so any beef with some fat and connective tissue will be fine.

  2. Pork:

      The pattern recipe calls for Meaty Pork Ribs, but boneless Pork cuts can be used as well.

  3. Salt Pork:

      This is an important flavoring in Spain, but is a little hard to find in much of North America. It is, however, easy to make at home by our recipe Salt Pork.

  4. Morcilla:

      This is a Spanish blood sausage. It comes in two forms, de Cebola (with onions) and de Arroz (with rice). You want the onion version as the rice version disintegrates in cooking. Morcilla is only available from Spanish food specialists. There wasn't time to order it from La Española Meats, so the photo example was made with an English style Black Pudding from a local sausage maker. It doesn't hold together as well as the Morcilla de Cebola, so should be sliced and go into the pot for just the last 10 minutes of cooking, It is larger so cut slices in half. If you are squeamish about Blood Sausage, or can't get it, use a spicy Italian Sausage and add 1/8 teaspoon ground Cloves and 1/4 teaspoon ground Cinnamon to the stew - also a good Idea with non-Morcilla blood sausages.

  5. Potatoes:

      White Rose or similar waxy potatoes work well in recipes of this sort. Avoid Klondike Gold type potatoes - they turn to mush if cooked a little more than the minimum. For details see our Potatoes page.

  6. Chard:

      [Swill Chard] This should be white stemmed Chard. Optionally, the Chard can be replaced with 1 # Green Beans cut to about 1 inch long.

  7. Pumpkin:

      NOT the orange Halloween kind, which is watery. Even Libby's market dominating canned pumpkin pie filling is made from an elongated tan squash. "Pumpkin" in most of the world means something much like our Kabocha, widely available in North America. Some other hard winter squash can substitute. For details see our Kabocha page.

  8. Comments:

      This is the Winter version. If serving observant Jews and/or Muslims replace the Pork, Salt Pork, and Morcilla with Chicken. If serving Vegetarians, use the Summer version, made with Olive Oil and the Vegetables, but with no Beef, Pork, Salt Pork or Morcilla.
  9. U.S. measure: t=teaspoon, T=Tablespoon, c=cup, qt=quart, oz=ounce, #=pound, cl=clove in=inch, ar=as required tt=to taste
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