Chef Isabel
Alubias de La Bañeza con Boletus
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Faves a la Catalana
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Faves a la Catalana are Catalonia's spring stew of tender fava beans, botifarra negra, cansalada, vi ranci, and mint, cooked covered and gentle so the beans stay whole and sweet.
Soups & Stews
Spanish
Comfort Food
Special Occasion
One Pot
30 min
Active Time
1 hr 10 min cook•1 hr 40 min total
Yield4 main servings or 6 first-course servings
Faves a la Catalana are Catalonia's spring fava bean stew, made with young beans, botifarra negra, cansalada, a little vi ranci, and the clean lift of mint. This is not a big winter bean pot like an Asturian fabada. It is a covered, green, spring stew, rich from pork but still fresh, and the favas must stay tender and whole.
The method that decides it is ofegar, to smother. You build a slow sofregit, the Catalan onion base, until the onion goes soft and sweet and the tomato loses its raw edge, then you add the favas with only enough liquid to help them cook. Keep the lid on and the heat low. Boil them hard and the skins toughen, the beans split, and the pot turns dull.
If you can find fresh young favas in spring, buy them. If not, frozen fava beans are the honest substitute and a Catalan cook far from home would use them without shame. No hace falta haber pisado España. They cook faster and taste a little less grassy, so add them still frozen and begin checking after twelve minutes. For botifarra negra, use morcilla de cebolla or a good unsmoked blood sausage, but tuck it in at the end or it will fall apart.
Finish with mint after the meat has warmed through, not at the beginning, because its job is to wake the stew, not vanish into it. Let the cazuela rest ten minutes and serve with bread for the juices. In my Margin, this one says only: no tengas prisa con el fuego, don't hurry the heat.
Faves a la Catalana belong to Catalonia's spring table, when fresh broad beans arrive and are cooked as faves ofegades, smothered under a lid with little liquid. The pork in the pot, cansalada and botifarra negra, comes from the cured and cooked larder of the matança, while the splash of vi ranci points to the Catalan habit of using aged oxidative wine to deepen stews. Fresh mint is not decoration here; it is one of the signatures that separates this dish from heavier bean pots nearby.
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Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
fresh fava beans in pods, or frozen fava beans
Quantity
1.6kg in pods, yielding about 600g shelled, or 600g frozen
shelled; use young beans with skins left on
extra virgin olive oil
Quantity
45ml
cansalada viada, unsmoked streaky pork belly, pancetta, or salt pork
Quantity
150g
cut into 1cm dice
spring onions
Quantity
250g
white and pale green parts thinly sliced
garlic
Quantity
3 cloves
finely chopped
ripe tomato
Quantity
1, about 150g
grated, skin discarded
fresh mint
Quantity
10g
half tied in the herb bundle, half torn to finish
bay leaf
Quantity
1
fresh thyme
Quantity
1 sprig
fresh marjoram (optional)
Quantity
1 sprig
vi ranci, or dry oloroso or amontillado sherry
Quantity
100ml
water or light unsalted chicken stock
Quantity
200ml
botifarra negra, or morcilla de cebolla
Quantity
200g
cut into thick slices
fine salt
Quantity
to taste
freshly ground black pepper
Quantity
to taste
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| fresh fava beans in pods, or frozen fava beansshelled; use young beans with skins left on | 1.6kg in pods, yielding about 600g shelled, or 600g frozen |
| extra virgin olive oil | 45ml |
| cansalada viada, unsmoked streaky pork belly, pancetta, or salt porkcut into 1cm dice | 150g |
| spring onionswhite and pale green parts thinly sliced | 250g |
| garlicfinely chopped | 3 cloves |
| ripe tomatograted, skin discarded | 1, about 150g |
| fresh minthalf tied in the herb bundle, half torn to finish | 10g |
| bay leaf | 1 |
| fresh thyme | 1 sprig |
| fresh marjoram (optional) | 1 sprig |
| vi ranci, or dry oloroso or amontillado sherry | 100ml |
| water or light unsalted chicken stock | 200ml |
| botifarra negra, or morcilla de cebollacut into thick slices | 200g |
| fine salt | to taste |
| freshly ground black pepper | to taste |
Equipment Needed
- •Wide heavy cazuela or shallow Dutch oven, 28 to 30cm
- •Tight-fitting lid
- •Box grater for the tomato
- •Kitchen string for the farcellet
Instructions
- 1
Shell the favas
Shell the fresh favas until you have about 600g beans. If they are small and bright green, leave the skins on; that is how this stew keeps its shape and spring taste. If the beans are big, grey-green, and leathery, peel a few to test: if the skin fights under the tooth, slip the skins off or save those beans for another pot. Tie the bay leaf, thyme, marjoram, and half the mint into a farcellet, a little herb bundle.
Frozen favas are the honest substitute. Rinse them quickly, add them still frozen, and start checking early because they cook faster than fresh. - 2
Render the cansalada
Warm the olive oil in a wide heavy cazuela or shallow pot over medium-low heat. Add the diced cansalada and cook 6 to 8 minutes, until the fat has rendered and the edges turn gold. Do not hard-crisp it. You want the pork fat in the pot, because that is the beginning of the stew.
- 3
Cook the sofregit
Add the spring onions with a good pinch of salt and lower the heat. Cook 12 to 15 minutes, stirring now and then, until they are soft, sweet, and pale gold. Add the garlic for 1 minute, then the grated tomato, and cook 6 to 8 minutes more, until the tomato thickens and the oil shows at the edge. This is the sofregit, the Catalan slow onion base. Rush it and the pot tastes thin.
- 4
Smother the favas
Add the favas and turn them gently through the sofregit. Pour in the vi ranci and let it bubble for 1 minute so the raw alcohol goes. Add the water or stock, the farcellet, and a little black pepper. The liquid should come only halfway up the beans, not cover them. Put on the lid and cook at the gentlest simmer, 20 to 30 minutes for fresh favas or 12 to 18 minutes for frozen, shaking the pot by the handles now and then instead of stirring hard. This is ofegar, smothering under a lid. Boil the favas hard and they split, toughen, and lose the green sweetness you came for.
If the pot dries before the favas are tender, add water 2 tablespoons at a time around the edge. Do not flood it. This is a stew with glossy juices, not a soup. - 5
Add the botifarra
Nestle the botifarra negra slices on top for the last 8 to 10 minutes of cooking. Cover again and let them warm through until they soften and release a little dark richness into the juices. Do not stir them with a spoon or they will break apart. Add the remaining torn mint in the last 2 minutes, then lift out the farcellet.
- 6
Rest and serve
Take the cazuela off the heat and let it rest 10 minutes. Taste for salt only now, because the cansalada and botifarra have already spoken. The favas should be tender but whole, with glossy juices clinging around them. Serve from the cazuela with bread for mopping. Siempre sale, si lo sigues.
Chef Tips
- •Buy fresh favas in spring, when the pods feel heavy and the beans inside are bright green. If the pods are huge and the beans look dusty or grey, they will cook starchy; use frozen young favas instead and shorten the cooking.
- •Do not make this with dried split favas. They belong to another pot. Faves a la Catalana needs fresh or frozen green beans so the stew stays springlike and the beans remain whole.
- •Botifarra negra is fragile because it is already cooked. Add it late and do not stir once it is in. If you use morcilla de cebolla or black pudding, choose one that is not heavily smoked or spiced, or it will take over the cazuela.
- •Vi ranci gives a nutty, deep taste. If you cannot find it, use dry oloroso or amontillado sherry, not sweet cooking wine. The substitute is a little sharper, so keep the amount to 100ml and let it bubble before adding the water.
- •Cansalada viada is the right pork if you can get it. Unsmoked pancetta or salt pork is the plain substitute. Smoked bacon makes the stew taste of smoke before it tastes of favas.
Advance Preparation
- •Shell fresh favas up to 8 hours ahead, then cover and refrigerate them with a damp cloth so they do not dry out.
- •The cansalada and sofregit can be cooked a day ahead. Rewarm them gently, then add the favas and continue the stew on the day you serve it.
- •The finished stew can rest 1 to 2 hours and improves for it. Reheat over very low heat, shaking the pot, and add a few fresh mint leaves at the end to bring the flavour back.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 375g)
Calories
625 calories
Total Fat
44 g
Saturated Fat
12 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
29 g
Cholesterol
80 mg
Sodium
1350 mg
Total Carbohydrates
35 g
Dietary Fiber
12 g
Sugars
11 g
Protein
26 g
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