Chef Isabel
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Verdinas con Almejas
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Verdinas con almejas is Asturias at its most delicate: small green fabes, sweet clams, and a broth that tastes of land and sea. Watch the simmer, because verdinas cook faster than fabes.
Soups & Stews
Spanish
Comfort Food
Dinner Party
One Pot
30 min
Active Time
1 hr 45 min cook•14 hr 15 min total
Yield4 to 6 servings
Verdinas con almejas is Asturian, especially from the eastern coast around Llanes, where the small green faba meets the shellfish of the Cantabrian Sea. This is cocina de cuchara, spoon food, but not a heavy one. The bean is tender and buttery, the clam liquor is clean and briny, and the stew should stay pale, green-gold, and quiet. No chorizo here. That belongs to other pots.
The method that decides it is gentleness. Soak the verdinas overnight, start them in cold water, and keep them at the barest tremble until creamy. A hard boil splits the skins and muddies the broth. The clams go in only at the end, opened separately so their liquor can be strained and any grit stays out of the pot. That little discipline is what makes the dish taste clean.
If you can't find verdinas where you are, use a small dried white bean that cooks creamy, like navy beans or a small cannellini. It won't have the same pale green skin or the same fine Asturian character, but it will give you the right spoonful if you cook it gently. For the clams, buy the best live littlenecks or Manila clams you can find and purge them well. No hace falta haber pisado España. You do need good clams, patience, and a pot you don't let bully the beans.
In the Margin beside this one I keep the same warning every year: the clam is not a sausage. It doesn't need hours. Add it late, let it perfume the beans, and stop. Siempre sale, si lo sigues.
Verdinas belong to eastern Asturias, where this small pale-green bean became known for pairing with seafood from the Cantabrian coast rather than with the cured compango of a fabada. In Llanes and the surrounding comarca, verdinas are often cooked with clams, prawns, or other shellfish because their thin skins and mild flavor take sea broth without becoming heavy. The dish is mar y montaña in a quiet Asturian key: the inland bean and the coastal clam sharing one spoon.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
dried verdinas
Quantity
400g
soaked overnight
live clams, such as almeja fina, littleneck, or Manila clams
Quantity
1kg
scrubbed and purged
coarse salt, for purging the clams
Quantity
2 tablespoons
extra virgin olive oil
Quantity
60ml
onion
Quantity
1 medium (about 150g)
finely chopped
leek, white part only
Quantity
1 small (about 80g)
finely chopped
green pepper
Quantity
1 small (about 80g)
finely chopped
garlic
Quantity
4 cloves
2 whole and 2 finely chopped
bay leaf
Quantity
1
carrot
Quantity
1 small (about 80g)
peeled and left whole
dry white wine or natural Asturian cider
Quantity
120ml
cold water
Quantity
1 litre, plus more as needed
saffron threads (optional)
Quantity
a few
lightly crushed
fresh parsley
Quantity
15g
leaves chopped and stems reserved
salt
Quantity
to taste
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| dried verdinassoaked overnight | 400g |
| live clams, such as almeja fina, littleneck, or Manila clamsscrubbed and purged | 1kg |
| coarse salt, for purging the clams | 2 tablespoons |
| extra virgin olive oil | 60ml |
| onionfinely chopped | 1 medium (about 150g) |
| leek, white part onlyfinely chopped | 1 small (about 80g) |
| green pepperfinely chopped | 1 small (about 80g) |
| garlic2 whole and 2 finely chopped | 4 cloves |
| bay leaf | 1 |
| carrotpeeled and left whole | 1 small (about 80g) |
| dry white wine or natural Asturian cider | 120ml |
| cold water | 1 litre, plus more as needed |
| saffron threads (optional)lightly crushed | a few |
| fresh parsleyleaves chopped and stems reserved | 15g |
| salt | to taste |
Equipment Needed
- •Wide heavy pot or olla, 4 to 5 litre capacity
- •Wide pan with lid for opening clams
- •Fine sieve, with kitchen paper or clean cloth for straining clam liquor
- •Wooden spoon
Instructions
- 1
Soak and purge
The night before, cover the verdinas with plenty of cold water and leave them to soak 10 to 12 hours. Two hours before cooking the clams, dissolve the coarse salt in 1 litre cold water, add the clams, and leave them in a cool place so they spit out sand. Lift them out of the water instead of pouring them into a colander, because grit sits at the bottom and has no business in your stew.
- 2
Start the beans
Drain the verdinas and put them in a wide heavy pot with the carrot, bay leaf, parsley stems, 2 whole garlic cloves, and 1 litre cold water. Bring them up slowly over medium heat. When they begin to murmur, lower the heat to the barest tremble. Skim the foam, then cook gently, uncovered or half-covered, until the beans start to soften, about 50 to 70 minutes. Do not salt yet.
Verdinas cook faster than the larger fabes used for fabada. Start checking early; old beans take longer, fresh ones can surprise you. - 3
Make the sofrito
While the beans cook, warm the olive oil in a frying pan and add the chopped onion, leek, green pepper, and a small pinch of salt. Cook low and slow for 25 to 30 minutes, stirring often, until the vegetables are soft, sweet, and dark gold at the edges. Add the 2 chopped garlic cloves and cook 2 minutes more. This sofrito, the slow vegetable base, gives the broth its body; rush it and the dish tastes thin.
- 4
Join the pot
Remove the carrot, bay leaf, parsley stems, and whole garlic from the bean pot. Mash the carrot and whole garlic with a ladleful of beans and a little broth, then stir that paste back into the pot with the sofrito and the saffron. Shake the pot by the handles instead of stirring hard with a spoon. Continue cooking at a low tremble until the verdinas are creamy all the way through, usually 20 to 40 minutes more.
- 5
Open the clams
Put the purged clams in a wide pan with the wine or Asturian cider. Cover and cook over medium-high heat for 3 to 5 minutes, shaking the pan, just until the clams open. Lift the open clams into a bowl as they are ready. Throw away any that stay closed. Strain the clam liquor through a fine sieve lined with kitchen paper or a clean cloth, because one sandy clam can ruin the whole pot.
- 6
Finish gently
Add the strained clam liquor to the verdinas and simmer gently for 5 minutes so the broth tastes of the sea. Taste now and salt carefully; the clams bring their own salt. Add the clams and chopped parsley, shake the pot once, and cook only 1 minute more. Rest off the heat for 10 minutes before serving. The broth should be silky, pale, and loose enough to move around the spoon.
Chef Tips
- •Buy verdinas if you can. They are small, pale green, thin-skinned beans from Asturias, and they cook more delicately than fabes de la granja. If you substitute navy beans or small cannellini, the dish will still work, but the flavor will be less fine and the color less green.
- •Clams must smell clean and of the sea, not strong. Purge them in salted water and open them separately, then strain the liquor. That step is not fuss. It is the difference between a clean Asturian stew and a sandy one.
- •Do not add chorizo, morcilla, or pimentón oil. Those belong to stronger Asturian pots. Verdinas con almejas is built on the quiet sweetness of beans, sofrito, and clam liquor.
- •The stew is best after a short rest, not after a night in the fridge with the clams sitting in it. If making ahead, cook the beans through, chill them without the clams, then open and add the clams just before serving.
Advance Preparation
- •Soak the verdinas 10 to 12 hours ahead in plenty of cold water.
- •The bean base can be cooked one day ahead without the clams. Cool it quickly, refrigerate, and reheat gently with a splash of water before adding the freshly opened clams and their strained liquor.
- •Purge the clams up to 2 hours before cooking. Do not leave them in fresh water, and do not seal them in an airtight container.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 460g)
Calories
430 calories
Total Fat
13 g
Saturated Fat
2 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
11 g
Cholesterol
10 mg
Sodium
720 mg
Total Carbohydrates
58 g
Dietary Fiber
14 g
Sugars
5 g
Protein
23 g
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