Chef Isabel
Cocido Aragonés con Cardo
Cocido Aragonés is Aragón's chickpea stew, marked by cardo from the Ebro garden and a bread-and-meat pelota. Keep the pot gentle and the garbanzos stay whole.
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Cocido Pasiego
Created by
Cantabria's Pasiego valleys cocido is a shepherd's pot of lamb, chickpeas, cabbage, potatoes, and bread sopas, slow-simmered until the broth is deep and the meat gives way.
Soups & Stews
Spanish
Comfort Food
One Pot
Batch Cooking
25 min
Active Time
3 hr cook•15 hr 25 min total
Yield6 servings
Cocido Pasiego belongs to the Pasiego valleys of Cantabria, and it is not the pork-and-bean cocido montañés wearing a different hat. This one is built on lamb, chickpeas, cabbage, potatoes, and sopas de pan, bread laid in the bowl and fed with the broth. It tastes of a mountain kitchen more than a town one: plain, filling, and serious about the stock.
The method that decides it is the simmer. Bring the lamb and chickpeas up gently, then keep the pot at a low tremble until the chickpeas turn creamy and the meat comes away from the bone without argument. Boil it hard and you get cloudy broth, ragged chickpeas, and lamb that tightens before it softens. Patience does the work. Siempre sale, si lo sigues.
If you're far from Cantabria, use bone-in lamb shoulder, neck, or shank. Don't use lean boneless cubes unless you add bones to the pot, because the broth is the dish's spine. A good dried chickpea will do if you can't find a Cantabrian one, and Savoy cabbage stands in well for berza. For the sopas, use day-old country bread with a tight crumb, not soft sandwich bread, which turns to paste and sulks in the bowl.
Serve it the old way if you can: first the bread sopas soaked with hot broth, then the chickpeas, cabbage, potatoes, and lamb. My Margin beside this one says only, "no lo apures," don't hurry it. That is less a note than a warning, but a useful one.
Cocido Pasiego comes from the Valles Pasiegos of Cantabria, the Pas, Pisueña, and Miera valleys where herders moved with their animals between valley houses and high pasture cabins. It differs from cocido montañés, the better-known Cantabrian pot of beans, berza, and pork, by leaning on lamb broth and bread sopas, a way to stretch meat into a full table. The bread soup belongs to a shepherd's economy: stale loaves were not waste, they were the first course waiting for the pot to give them meaning.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
dried chickpeas
Quantity
400g
soaked overnight
bone-in lamb shoulder, neck, or shank
Quantity
1.2kg
cut into large pieces
cold water
Quantity
2.8L, plus more as needed
onion
Quantity
1 large
peeled and halved
leek
Quantity
1
trimmed and halved
carrots
Quantity
2
peeled
bay leaves
Quantity
2
black peppercorns
Quantity
8
fine sea salt
Quantity
18g, plus more to taste
waxy potatoes
Quantity
600g
peeled and cut into large chunks
berza, Savoy cabbage, or green cabbage
Quantity
500g
thick ribs removed, sliced wide
day-old rustic bread
Quantity
200g
thinly sliced
garlic cloves
Quantity
4
thinly sliced
extra virgin olive oil
Quantity
60ml
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| dried chickpeassoaked overnight | 400g |
| bone-in lamb shoulder, neck, or shankcut into large pieces | 1.2kg |
| cold water | 2.8L, plus more as needed |
| onionpeeled and halved | 1 large |
| leektrimmed and halved | 1 |
| carrotspeeled | 2 |
| bay leaves | 2 |
| black peppercorns | 8 |
| fine sea salt | 18g, plus more to taste |
| waxy potatoespeeled and cut into large chunks | 600g |
| berza, Savoy cabbage, or green cabbagethick ribs removed, sliced wide | 500g |
| day-old rustic breadthinly sliced | 200g |
| garlic clovesthinly sliced | 4 |
| extra virgin olive oil | 60ml |
Equipment Needed
- •Large heavy olla or stockpot, 6 to 7 litres
- •Skimming spoon
- •Small frying pan for the garlic refrito
- •Wide tureen or deep bowls for the bread sopas
Instructions
- 1
Soak the chickpeas
Put the chickpeas in a large bowl, cover them with plenty of cold water, and leave them 12 hours. Drain them before cooking. Pésalo, no lo adivines: the soak and the weight matter here, because old or under-soaked chickpeas will stay chalky while the lamb is already done.
If your chickpeas are very old, cook time can stretch by an hour. Buy from a shop with good turnover if you can. - 2
Start the pot
Put the drained chickpeas, lamb, water, onion, leek, carrots, bay leaves, and peppercorns in a large heavy pot. Bring it up slowly over medium heat. As foam rises, skim it off with a spoon so the broth stays clean. When the pot begins to move, add the 18g salt.
- 3
Hold the simmer
Lower the heat until the surface barely trembles, then cook uncovered for about 2 hours. The lamb should soften slowly and the chickpeas should swell without bursting. Do not let it boil hard. That hard boil is what clouds the broth and makes the meat tighten, and then you spend the rest of the afternoon trying to fix what impatience broke.
- 4
Add the vegetables
Lift out the onion, leek, and carrots once they have given up their flavor. Add the potatoes and cabbage to the pot, pushing them down gently into the broth. Cook 30 to 40 minutes more, still at that low tremble, until the potatoes are tender and the cabbage has softened but not collapsed.
- 5
Check the lamb
Test the lamb with a fork. It should give way easily, especially around the bone, and the chickpeas should be creamy all the way through. If the chickpeas need more time, lift out the potatoes and cabbage to a warm dish and keep simmering the lamb and chickpeas until they are right. The pot decides the timing, not the clock.
- 6
Make the sopas
Lay the sliced day-old bread in a warmed tureen or deep bowls. Ladle over enough hot broth to soak it well, then let it sit 5 minutes so the bread swells and holds its shape. Sopas de pan should be soft and full of broth, not beaten into paste.
- 7
Finish with garlic
Warm the olive oil in a small pan over medium-low heat, add the sliced garlic, and cook until pale gold and fragrant. Do not brown it dark, or the oil turns bitter. Spoon this simple refrito, the garlic oil finish, over the bread sopas and a little over the cabbage and potatoes.
- 8
Serve in turns
Serve the bread sopas first, glossy with broth and garlic oil. Then serve the chickpeas, cabbage, potatoes, and lamb, with more broth spooned around them. Taste for salt at the end, because the bread and potatoes soften the seasoning. This is cocina de cuchara, spoon food, and it should sit deep in the bowl.
Chef Tips
- •Use bone-in lamb. Shoulder, neck, or shank are right because they give gelatin and flavor to the broth. Lean boneless lamb makes a thinner pot, so if that's all you have, add 400g lamb bones and know the meat will eat a little drier.
- •The bread matters more than people think. Use a day-old rustic loaf with a firm crumb. Soft sliced bread dissolves into glue, and that is not sopas de pan, it's punishment in a bowl.
- •This is not cocido montañés. Don't load it with pork, chorizo, and beans and call it Pasiego. Cocido montañés is another Cantabrian dish, a good one, but not this one.
- •If you can't find berza, use Savoy cabbage first, green cabbage second. Kale is stronger and more fibrous, so slice it thinner and give it a few extra minutes.
- •The stew is better after a rest. The broth settles, the lamb relaxes, and the chickpeas take on more flavor. Reheat it gently, with a splash of water if the bread or potatoes have drunk too much broth.
Advance Preparation
- •Soak the chickpeas 12 hours ahead in plenty of cold water.
- •The lamb, chickpeas, cabbage, and potatoes can be cooked a day ahead and chilled in their broth. Reheat gently and make the bread sopas just before serving.
- •Slice the bread the night before and leave it loosely covered so it firms up. Fresh bread is too soft for good sopas.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 610g)
Calories
875 calories
Total Fat
39 g
Saturated Fat
12 g
Trans Fat
1 g
Unsaturated Fat
24 g
Cholesterol
85 mg
Sodium
1370 mg
Total Carbohydrates
92 g
Dietary Fiber
18 g
Sugars
11 g
Protein
38 g
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