Alubias en Ajo Colorado Sevillanas

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy 4 litre pot or olla
• •Mortar and pestle
• •Small frying pan
• •Wooden spoon

Instructions

1. 1

   Soak the beans

   The night before, cover the beans with plenty of cold water and leave them to soak for 8 to 12 hours. Drain them before cooking. This is not fussing; soaked beans cook evenly, and dry beans thrown straight into the pot keep you waiting while their skins toughen.

2. 2

   Start the pot

   Put the drained beans in a heavy pot with 1.8 litres cold water, the onion, bay leaf, and Nora pepper if using. Bring slowly to a simmer, skim the foam, then lower the heat until the surface barely moves. Cook uncovered or partly covered until the beans are tender but still whole, about 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 40 minutes, depending on age.

   Do not boil them hard. A rough boil breaks the beans and gives you cloudy broth before the ajo colorado has done its work.
3. 3

   Fry garlic and bread

   While the beans soften, warm the olive oil in a small frying pan over medium-low heat. Add the garlic cloves and fry gently, turning often, until deep gold all over, 4 to 6 minutes. Lift them into a mortar. Fry the bread in the same oil until golden on both sides, then add it to the mortar too. Take the pan off the heat and keep the oil.

4. 4

   Make the majado

   Toast the cumin seeds for 30 seconds in the warm pan if they need waking up, then add them to the mortar with the saffron, sweet pimenton, hot pimenton if using, and 1 teaspoon of the salt. Pound everything to a thick paste. Add a ladle of hot bean broth and the vinagre de Jerez, then work it smooth enough to pour. The paste should smell of garlic, saffron, and warm pimenton, not raw spice.

5. 5

   Thicken the beans

   When the beans are tender, remove the onion, bay leaf, and Nora pepper. Stir the majado into the pot gently, using a wooden spoon around the edges so you don't smash the beans. Add the reserved garlic oil from the pan. Simmer 10 to 15 minutes, until the broth turns red-gold and coats the spoon.

6. 6

   Rest and serve

   Taste for salt, adding the remaining salt only if the beans need it. Take the pot off the heat and let it rest 10 minutes. Serve in deep bowls, with parsley only if you like its green bite. The stew should be thick but still spoonable, not a puree. Tal como se hace allí, plain and useful.

Chef Tips

• •Use small dried white beans with fresh stock turnover. Cannellini work well outside Spain, but they cook a little creamier and may need less time, so start checking early.
• •Pimenton de la Vera is worth buying for this dish. Add it off the direct heat or in the mortar, never let it scorch in hot oil, because burnt pimenton tastes bitter and there is no polite way to hide it.
• •The bread is not a garnish. It is the thickener. Use day-old rustic bread with a firm crumb, not soft sandwich bread, which turns gluey in the mortar.
• •This is better after resting. If it thickens too much, loosen it with a splash of water or bean broth and warm it gently.

Advance Preparation

• •Soak the beans the night before in plenty of cold water.
• •The stew can be cooked a day ahead and reheated gently; the ajo colorado settles into the beans overnight.
• •Leftovers keep 3 days covered in the refrigerator. Reheat slowly with a splash of water if the broth has tightened.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 320g)