Chef Isabel
Fabada Asturiana
Fabada Asturiana is Asturias in a pot: fat fabes de la granja, cured compango, and a slow tremble on the stove until the beans turn creamy and the broth shines.
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Verdinas con Bacalao
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Verdinas con bacalao are Asturian spoon food for Lent and Semana Santa: small green beans cooked creamy, a slow sofrito underneath, and salt cod added late so it stays in flakes.
Soups & Stews
Spanish
Easter
Comfort Food
One Pot
30 min
Active Time
2 hr 15 min cook•14 hr 45 min total
Yield4 to 6 servings
Verdinas con bacalao are Asturian, from the wet north where small pale-green beans are treated gently and often paired with fish or shellfish. This is cocina de cuchara, spoon food, but meatless by old habit, not by fashion. The beans should finish creamy and whole, the broth pale and lightly golden, with the cod sitting in clean flakes instead of disappearing into salt.
The method that decides it is timing. Soak the verdinas overnight, cook them slowly until almost tender, and build a sofrito, the slow onion base, low enough that it turns sweet without browning hard. Then add the desalted bacalao only at the end. Salt cod has already been cured once; boil it hard and it gives up, turning dry at the edges and cloudy in the pot.
If you can't find verdinas where you are, use a small dried white bean, navy or cannellini if that's what the market gives you. The colour will be different and the skin a little less fine, but the dish still works if the bean is fresh, soaked well, and cooked without bullying. No hace falta haber pisado España. You need good salt cod, patient heat, and the sense to taste before adding salt.
In the Margin beside this one I wrote, "bacalao al final," cod at the end. That is the correction most cooks need. Siempre sale, si lo sigues.
Verdinas belong especially to eastern Asturias, around Llanes and the coastal valleys where the small green bean became known for cooking tender without losing its skin. Unlike fabada, which leans on pork from the matanza, verdinas are often cooked with seafood and fish from the Cantabrian coast, a lighter Asturian bean stew with the same seriousness about texture. Bacalao, preserved salt cod, fits the Lenten table because it kept well inland and gave meatless dishes substance long before meatless cooking needed a new name.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
dried verdinas
Quantity
400g
soaked overnight
salt cod fillet
Quantity
500g
desalted for 24 to 36 hours, skin and bones removed
onion
Quantity
1 large
finely chopped
leek
Quantity
1 small
white and pale green parts finely chopped
green pepper
Quantity
1 small
finely chopped
garlic
Quantity
3 cloves
finely chopped
ripe tomato pulp
Quantity
120g
grated
extra virgin olive oil
Quantity
80ml
bay leaf
Quantity
1
sweet pimentón de la Vera
Quantity
1 teaspoon
saffron threads (optional)
Quantity
1 pinch
cold water
Quantity
1.5 litres, plus more as needed
flat-leaf parsley
Quantity
2 tablespoons
chopped
salt (optional)
Quantity
only if needed
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| dried verdinassoaked overnight | 400g |
| salt cod filletdesalted for 24 to 36 hours, skin and bones removed | 500g |
| onionfinely chopped | 1 large |
| leekwhite and pale green parts finely chopped | 1 small |
| green pepperfinely chopped | 1 small |
| garlicfinely chopped | 3 cloves |
| ripe tomato pulpgrated | 120g |
| extra virgin olive oil | 80ml |
| bay leaf | 1 |
| sweet pimentón de la Vera | 1 teaspoon |
| saffron threads (optional) | 1 pinch |
| cold water | 1.5 litres, plus more as needed |
| flat-leaf parsleychopped | 2 tablespoons |
| salt (optional) | only if needed |
Equipment Needed
- •Wide heavy pot or olla, 4 to 5 litres
- •Frying pan for the sofrito
- •Fine skimming spoon
- •Large bowl for desalting the cod
Instructions
- 1
Desalt the cod
Put the salt cod in a bowl, cover with cold water, and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours, changing the water every 8 hours. Taste a tiny flake after soaking; it should be pleasantly seasoned, not harshly salty. Drain it, pat it dry, remove skin and bones, and cut it into large pieces of about 4cm.
Thick cod needs the longer soak. Thin tail pieces can be ready sooner, so taste instead of guessing. - 2
Start the verdinas
Drain the soaked verdinas and put them in a wide heavy pot with the bay leaf and 1.5 litres cold water. Bring them up slowly over medium heat, skimming the pale foam that rises. Once they begin to move, lower the heat until the surface barely trembles. Verdinas have fine skins; a hard boil breaks them before the inside turns creamy.
- 3
Cook the sofrito
While the beans cook, warm the olive oil in a frying pan over low heat. Add the onion, leek, green pepper, and garlic with a small pinch of salt only if your cod is well desalted. Cook slowly for 25 to 30 minutes, stirring now and then, until the vegetables are soft, sweet, and pale gold. Add the grated tomato and cook 10 minutes more, until the oil shows at the edges and the mixture looks jammy.
- 4
Season the base
Take the sofrito pan off the heat and stir in the pimentón so it blooms in the warm oil without scorching. Add the saffron if using. Scrape the sofrito into the bean pot and shake the pot gently by the handles to settle it in. Do not stir hard with a spoon; the beans are not bricks.
- 5
Simmer until creamy
Keep the verdinas at that quiet tremble until they are almost tender, usually 1 hour 30 minutes to 2 hours from the first simmer, depending on the age of the beans. If the liquid drops below the beans, add a splash of cold water. The broth should thicken naturally from the beans and sofrito, not from smashing half the pot.
- 6
Add the bacalao
When the beans are tender but still holding their shape, lay the cod pieces on top and press them just under the broth. Cook gently for 8 to 10 minutes, until the cod flakes when nudged with a spoon. This is the step that matters: bacalao goes in late, because it needs warming through, not a long punishment.
- 7
Rest and taste
Turn off the heat and let the pot rest for 10 minutes. Taste the broth now, after the cod has given up its salt, and season only if it needs it. Scatter over the parsley and serve in deep bowls, with a piece or two of cod in each. The broth should be silky, the beans whole, and the cod in clean white flakes.
Chef Tips
- •Buy verdinas from a shop with good turnover. Old beans are the enemy here; they stay chalky in the centre and make you blame yourself when the fault was the bag.
- •If verdinas are out of reach, use small dried cannellini or navy beans. You lose the pale green colour and a little delicacy in the skin, but you keep the shape of the dish. Soak them overnight and cook them just as gently.
- •Use proper salt cod, not fresh cod with extra salt thrown at it. The cured fish brings firmness and a clean sea taste to the broth. Fresh cod will cook, yes, but it won't give the same dish.
- •Do not salt early. Between the bacalao and the slow reduction, the pot may need no salt at all. Taste at the end, like a sensible person.
- •This is better after a short rest, not after a violent reheat. Warm leftovers slowly with a splash of water and shake the pot instead of stirring hard.
Advance Preparation
- •Soak the verdinas overnight in plenty of cold water, at least 10 to 12 hours.
- •Desalt the bacalao 24 to 36 hours ahead in the refrigerator, changing the water every 8 hours.
- •The sofrito can be cooked a day ahead and kept covered in the refrigerator. Add it to the beans once they have begun to soften.
- •The finished stew keeps 2 days in the refrigerator. Reheat very gently so the cod stays in flakes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 520g)
Calories
540 calories
Total Fat
17 g
Saturated Fat
3 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
14 g
Cholesterol
45 mg
Sodium
700 mg
Total Carbohydrates
58 g
Dietary Fiber
14 g
Sugars
5 g
Protein
42 g
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