Fabas de Lourenzá con Almejas

Fabas de Lourenzá con almejas is Galician, from the big white bean of Lourenzá in Lugo meeting clams from the Atlantic. The bean is large, thin-skinned, and creamy; the clam is clean and briny. That is what makes this dish itself and not a neighbor's stew: no compango, no pork backbone, no heavy red pot. Galicia lets land and sea sit in the same spoon, and both have to be heard.

The method that decides it is timing. Cook the soaked fabas first, slowly, until they are tender and creamy inside, then add the clams only at the end so they open into the broth and stop there. If you make the clams wait for the beans, they turn tough and give you grit in a pot you worked two hours for. No. Beans first, clams last.

If you're far from Galicia, no hace falta haber pisado España. Use a large dried white bean, judión if you have it, cannellini if you don't; it will be a little less buttery but still a good stew if you soak it and cook it gently. For the clams, choose small live littlenecks or Manila clams, not big chopped clams from a tin. Pésalo, no lo adivines, and purge them properly.

The Margin beside this one has only the warning I earned the hard way: don't chase thickness with heat. Mash a spoonful of beans if the broth needs body, keep the pot gentle, and let the parsley go in at the end. Siempre sale, si lo sigues.