Cigrons a la Catalana

Cigrons a la Catalana are Catalonia's chickpeas, a stew of soft cigrons carried by sofregit, the slow onion and tomato base, and finished with picada, the almond and garlic paste that thickens the pot. It is not a Castilian cocido without its meats, and not the Andalusian chickpea-and-spinach pan with pimenton. Catalonia gives this one its own shape: sweet raisins, toasted pine nuts, olive oil, and a sauce that clings to the spoon.

The step that decides it is the sofregit. Cook the onion low until dark gold and jammy, then cook the tomato until its water is gone and the oil comes back to the edges. Rush that and the chickpeas taste boiled, no matter how carefully you finish them. Let it go slowly and the stew turns sweet and deep without a bone of meat in it.

If you are far from Catalonia, no hace falta haber pisado Espana. Use good dried chickpeas if you can, small and not old from a shop with turnover; if not, canned chickpeas are fine, but simmer them in the sauce long enough to stop tasting separate from it. Use canned whole tomatoes outside summer, because a hard winter tomato has nothing generous to give.

The picada goes in at the end, pounded in a mortar and loosened with broth, not boiled to death. My Margin for this one says: the stew thickens after it rests, so stop while it still looks a little loose. Siempre sale, si lo sigues.