Chef Isabel
Aguaillo de la Sierra de Cadiz
Aguaillo is from the Sierra de Cadiz: cold water, stale bread, garlic, oil and vinegar, closer to a field drink than a bowl of soup, and sharp enough to wake you in the heat.
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Rancho Canario
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Rancho Canario belongs to the Canary Islands: chickpeas, potatoes, salted pork, and thick noodles in a spoon stew carried by a late pimentón sofrito.
Soups & Stews
Spanish
Comfort Food
One Pot
Batch Cooking
25 min
Active Time
2 hr 30 min cook•14 hr 55 min total
Yield6 servings
Rancho Canario is from the Canary Islands, and it is cocina de cuchara, spoon food, in the plainest and most useful sense: chickpeas, potatoes, salted pork, and thick noodles in a broth that eats like a stew. What makes it Canarian is that last pull of sofrito, the slow onion base with garlic and pimentón, stirred in near the end so the pot turns warm, red-gold, and round without becoming heavy.
The step that decides it is order. The chickpeas must be tender before the potatoes and fideos go in, because noodles keep drinking long after you think they're done. Add them too early and you get paste. Add them at the end, keep the pot loose, and the stew lands where it should: thick enough for a spoon to stand a moment, still brothy enough to be kind.
If you can't find Canarian salted pork ribs, use a piece of salt pork or unsmoked bacon and a small pork rib or shoulder piece. It won't taste exactly of the islands, but it will give you the same salt, fat, and backbone. No hace falta haber pisado España. Weigh it, soak what needs soaking, and don't rush the chickpeas. Siempre sale, si lo sigues.
Rancho Canario belongs to the Canary Islands' inland home kitchens, where a filling pot of chickpeas, potatoes, meat scraps, and noodles could feed a household from a modest larder. The salted pork points to preservation, and the fideos show the old habit of stretching a stew with pasta once the legumes had done their work. Each island and family keeps its own balance, sometimes with chicken or beef, but the heart remains chickpeas, potatoes, noodles, and a pimentón-scented finish.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
dried chickpeas
Quantity
300g
soaked overnight
salted pork ribs
Quantity
300g
soaked overnight and rinsed
pork shoulder or pork belly
Quantity
150g
in one piece
bay leaf
Quantity
1
cold water
Quantity
1.8 liters, plus more as needed
waxy potatoes
Quantity
500g
peeled and cut into 3cm chunks
thick soup noodles, fideos gruesos
Quantity
120g
olive oil
Quantity
3 tablespoons
onion
Quantity
1 large
finely chopped
garlic cloves
Quantity
4
minced
ripe tomato
Quantity
1 medium
grated
sweet pimentón
Quantity
1 teaspoon
ground cumin
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
saffron threads (optional)
Quantity
1 pinch
salt
Quantity
only if needed
black pepper
Quantity
to taste
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| dried chickpeassoaked overnight | 300g |
| salted pork ribssoaked overnight and rinsed | 300g |
| pork shoulder or pork bellyin one piece | 150g |
| bay leaf | 1 |
| cold water | 1.8 liters, plus more as needed |
| waxy potatoespeeled and cut into 3cm chunks | 500g |
| thick soup noodles, fideos gruesos | 120g |
| olive oil | 3 tablespoons |
| onionfinely chopped | 1 large |
| garlic clovesminced | 4 |
| ripe tomatograted | 1 medium |
| sweet pimentón | 1 teaspoon |
| ground cumin | 1/2 teaspoon |
| saffron threads (optional) | 1 pinch |
| salt | only if needed |
| black pepper | to taste |
Equipment Needed
- •Large heavy pot or olla, 5 to 6 liters
- •Frying pan for the sofrito
- •Skimming spoon
Instructions
- 1
Soak the salt and chickpeas
The night before, cover the chickpeas with plenty of cold water. In another bowl, cover the salted pork ribs with cold water too, changing that water once if they are very salty. This is not fussing. It is what lets the chickpeas cook evenly and the pork season the pot instead of bullying it.
- 2
Start the pot
Drain the chickpeas and pork. Put them in a heavy pot with the fresh pork, bay leaf, and 1.8 liters cold water. Bring slowly to a simmer, skim the grey foam, then lower the heat and cook gently until the chickpeas are nearly tender, about 1 hour 45 minutes to 2 hours. Keep them covered by liquid, adding hot water when needed.
- 3
Cook the sofrito
While the chickpeas soften, warm the olive oil in a frying pan and cook the onion with a pinch of salt over low heat until dark gold and sweet, 15 to 18 minutes. Add the garlic for 1 minute, then the grated tomato, and cook until the oil shows at the edges. Take the pan off the heat before stirring in the pimentón, cumin, and saffron, if using, so the pimentón blooms without scorching.
If pimentón burns, it turns bitter. Off the heat is enough. The hot oil will wake it. - 4
Add potatoes
When the chickpeas are tender but not collapsing, lift out the pork pieces, cut the meat into bite-size pieces, and return it to the pot. Add the potatoes and simmer until they are just tender at the edges, about 15 minutes. The broth should still look generous, because the noodles are coming and they are greedy.
- 5
Finish with noodles
Stir in the sofrito, then add the thick fideos. Simmer 8 to 10 minutes, stirring now and then so the noodles don't catch on the bottom. Stop while the pot is still a little looser than you want; the noodles keep drinking as the rancho rests.
- 6
Rest and serve
Take the pot off the heat and let it stand 10 minutes. Taste only now for salt, because the pork has been seasoning the stew all along. Finish with black pepper and serve in deep bowls, chickpeas, potato, pork, and noodles in every spoonful. Tal como se hace allí, plain and filling.
Chef Tips
- •Use thick fideos, not fine angel-hair noodles. Fine noodles disappear into the pot and make it pasty before the potatoes have settled.
- •If you can't find salted pork ribs, use 100g salt pork or unsmoked bacon plus 200g pork shoulder. Soak the salt pork for a few hours and salt the stew only at the end.
- •Rancho Canario thickens hard as it sits. Reheat it gently with a splash of water, not stock, and stir from the bottom so the noodles don't catch.
Advance Preparation
- •Soak the chickpeas and salted pork overnight, 10 to 12 hours.
- •The stew can be made a day ahead, but cook the noodles only until just done, because they will keep swelling in the refrigerator.
- •Keeps 3 days covered in the refrigerator. Loosen with water when reheating.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 520g)
Calories
590 calories
Total Fat
26 g
Saturated Fat
7 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
17 g
Cholesterol
45 mg
Sodium
720 mg
Total Carbohydrates
65 g
Dietary Fiber
9 g
Sugars
8 g
Protein
24 g
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