Chef Isabel
Alubias de La Bañeza con Boletus
This León guiso pairs La Bañeza beans with wild boletus, a quiet autumn stew where the beans simmer gently and the mushrooms go in near the end, while they still have bite and perfume.
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Cuinat Eivissenc
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Cuinat is Ibiza's Holy Week pot, dried favas and guixes folded with chard, collejas, garlic, mint, and ñora. The trick is cooking it until the greens and legumes become one thick spoonful.
Soups & Stews
Spanish
Easter
Comfort Food
Make Ahead
40 min
Active Time
2 hr 10 min cook•3 hr 20 min total
Yield6 servings
Cuinat is Eivissenc, from Ibiza, a meatless Holy Week stew of dried peeled favas, guixes, chard, wild collejas, garlic, mint, and ñora. It is not a general potaje with a green thing thrown in. The island makes it thick, dark green, and earthy, with the legumes breaking just enough to hold the greens together. Esto es de Eivissa, no de España a secas.
The method that decides it is the order. Soak the favas and guixes overnight, cook them gently until they begin to soften, then bring in the blanched, chopped greens and the garlic and ñora picada. If the greens float in big leaves, the pot feels boiled and separate. Chop them fine and let the favas thicken around them, and every spoonful tastes like one dish.
If you're far from Ibiza, no hace falta haber pisado España. Buy dried peeled favas from a Middle Eastern or Greek shop if the Spanish shop has none. For guixes, look for almortas or grass peas, and use chickpeas if you must. The chickpeas make it rounder and less earthy, but the pot still tells the truth if the greens, ñora, garlic, and oil are right.
Don't help it with meat stock or chorizo. That's another stew, and a Lenten dish has its own strength. It is better the next day, as island cocina de cuchara, spoon food, often is. In my Margin I wrote: more rest than fire. That is the recipe trying to be kind.
Cuinat belongs to Eivissa, Ibiza in the Pityusic Islands, and to the meatless cooking of Holy Week, when households set a large pot on Holy Thursday to carry them through Good Friday. Its dried peeled favas and guixes came from the stored larder, while collejas and chard belonged to the spring fields, so the dish joins winter provision with the first green growth. Garlic, ñora, pimentón, mint, and olive oil give depth without meat, which is exactly the discipline of a Lenten pot.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
dried peeled fava beans (habas secas peladas)
Quantity
250g
soaked overnight
dried guixes (almortas or grass peas)
Quantity
150g
soaked overnight
Swiss chard
Quantity
800g
leaves and tender stems washed well
collejas (bladder campion greens), or young spinach plus extra chard
Quantity
400g
washed well, tough stems removed
dried ñora peppers (optional)
Quantity
3
seeded
jarred ñora pulp (optional)
Quantity
2 tablespoons
garlic
Quantity
1 large head, about 10 cloves
peeled
extra virgin olive oil
Quantity
90ml, plus more to serve
sweet pimentón
Quantity
2 teaspoons
fresh mint leaves (hierbabuena)
Quantity
10g
chopped
lemon (optional)
Quantity
1
cut into wedges
fine sea salt
Quantity
to taste
water
Quantity
about 2 liters
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| dried peeled fava beans (habas secas peladas)soaked overnight | 250g |
| dried guixes (almortas or grass peas)soaked overnight | 150g |
| Swiss chardleaves and tender stems washed well | 800g |
| collejas (bladder campion greens), or young spinach plus extra chardwashed well, tough stems removed | 400g |
| dried ñora peppers (optional)seeded | 3 |
| jarred ñora pulp (optional) | 2 tablespoons |
| garlicpeeled | 1 large head, about 10 cloves |
| extra virgin olive oil | 90ml, plus more to serve |
| sweet pimentón | 2 teaspoons |
| fresh mint leaves (hierbabuena)chopped | 10g |
| lemon (optional)cut into wedges | 1 |
| fine sea salt | to taste |
| water | about 2 liters |
Equipment Needed
- •Large heavy pot or olla, 5 to 6 liters
- •Large bowl for soaking legumes
- •Mortar and pestle
- •Wide skillet
- •Colander
Instructions
- 1
Soak the legumes
Rinse the dried peeled favas and the guixes separately, then cover each by at least three fingers of cold water. Soak 12 to 16 hours. Drain and rinse well, and throw away the soaking water, especially from the guixes. Pésalo, no lo adivines: the balance of fava to guixa is what gives cuinat its thick body and its earthy edge.
If you cannot find guixes, use 150g dried chickpeas soaked overnight. Start the chickpeas alone in fresh water for 45 minutes before adding the favas, because they take longer. The stew will be rounder and less earthy, but still honest. - 2
Clean the greens
Wash the chard and collejas in two or three changes of water until no grit is left in the bowl. Cut chard stems into 1cm pieces and slice the leaves and collejas roughly. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, add the chard stems for 2 minutes, then add the leaves and collejas for 2 minutes more, just until they collapse. Drain, squeeze only enough so they are not dripping, and chop them fine.
- 3
Simmer the legumes
Put the drained favas and guixes in a heavy 5 to 6 liter pot with 1.8 liters fresh water. Bring slowly to a simmer, skim the foam, then lower the heat and cook gently for 45 to 60 minutes, until the favas are starting to soften and the guixes are tender but still holding. Do not hard boil them; peeled favas break quickly, and a hard boil gives you mud before the greens ever arrive.
- 4
Make the picada
Open the ñoras, shake out the seeds, cover them with hot water, and leave them 20 minutes. Scrape the softened red flesh from the skins. Warm the olive oil in a small pan, add the peeled garlic cloves, and cook low and slow for 8 to 10 minutes until the garlic is soft and pale gold, not brown. Off the heat, stir in the pimentón and the ñora flesh. Pound everything in a mortar with a pinch of salt and a ladle of broth from the pot.
- 5
Add the greens
Stir the chopped greens into the legumes. Add just enough hot water to keep the pot loose but not soupy; the liquid should sit level with the greens, not drown them. Simmer 20 minutes, folding from the bottom now and then so the greens and beans begin to move as one.
- 6
Bind the pot
Stir in the garlic and ñora picada and the chopped mint. Simmer gently for 30 to 40 minutes more, until the favas loosen into the broth and the stew thickens enough for a spoon to leave a track for a second. This is the method that decides it. You are not making beans with greens floating around them. You are making one thick island spoonful.
- 7
Rest and serve
Taste for salt near the end, then take the pot off the heat and let it rest at least 30 minutes. Better still, cool it, refrigerate it overnight, and reheat it gently the next day with a splash of water if it has set too thick. Serve warm or just off hot, with a thread of olive oil and lemon wedges if you like. Siempre sale, si lo sigues.
Chef Tips
- •Guixes are grass peas, also sold as almortas or guijas. Buy food-grade ones from a shop with good turnover, soak them overnight, and discard the soaking water. This is occasional Holy Week food, not a daily bean pot.
- •Collejas are the spring green that marks the dish. If you cannot find them, use young spinach with a little extra chard. You lose some wild bitterness, and the greens soften faster, so do not cook them to rags.
- •The ñora matters. It gives a sweet dried-pepper depth without tomato. Jarred ñora pulp is fine, 2 tablespoons for this pot, but tomato turns the dish into something else.
- •Make cuinat a day ahead if you can. The greens settle into the legumes overnight and the pot thickens properly. Reheat it low and loosen with water, not stock.
- •Serve it with pan payés or another firm country bread. A dry Ibizan or Mallorcan white works well, but water at the table has never spoiled a Lenten pot.
Advance Preparation
- •Soak the favas and guixes 12 to 16 hours before cooking, in separate bowls with plenty of cold water.
- •The whole stew can be made one day ahead. Cool it, refrigerate it covered, and reheat gently with a splash of water.
- •The greens can be washed, blanched, squeezed, and chopped a day ahead, then kept covered in the refrigerator.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 420g)
Calories
410 calories
Total Fat
16 g
Saturated Fat
2 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
14 g
Cholesterol
0 mg
Sodium
1000 mg
Total Carbohydrates
50 g
Dietary Fiber
18 g
Sugars
5 g
Protein
23 g
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