Today “Cocina en…” teach us how to cook catalan beans

Every two weeks the gastronomic website “Cocina en…” offers us a delicious traditional recipe for our readers become amateur cooks advised by those who know the most about it. Today they bring to us the recipe for the catalan beans (in Catalan ” faves a la catalana”), a seasonal, high-calories and nutritious dish. In the Medieval times beans was considered a food for poor people, but in Catalonia beans have been appreciated and incorporated to the Mediterranean diet in many ways. As usual the gastronomic website “Cocina en…” is kind enough to offer to all those that come on behalf of ShBarcelona a juicy 10% discount on the following courses and workshops:

• Creative Tapas Workshop: April the 16^th
• Rice Workshop: April the 20^th
• Cooking Course to seduce: April the 13^th
• Cooking with Seaweed: April the 16^th
• Course Wine and Cheese Pairings: April the 19^th

Oh! And for wine lovers this week they also offer a Somontano Wine tasting in the morning or in the afternoon, on Saturday, April the 20th for only 6 euros. Wow!

This is a very typical recipe in Catalonia.

INGREDIENTS

1 Kg beans
1 black sausage (“butifarra negra”)
1 sausage (“longaniza”)
100g bacon (“panceta”)
2 small ribs
1/2 large onion
Two red tomatoes
1 tender garlic (“ajo tierno”)
1 bay leaf
1 sprig of mint (hierbabuena)
water
virgin olive oil
Moscatel wine
salt
pepper
some anise

PREPARATION

Start by shelling the beans and putting them aside.

In a pan put a good splash of olive oil and toss the bacon, ribs and bay leaves and let fry gently.

Meanwhile, we can cut all the vegetables and peel the tomatoes.

After a few minutes, we add the sausage to the pan until it brown. Don’t let it overcook too much. When everything is brown, add the onion, the “hierbabuena” and the garlic.

Once everything is fried, toss the tomatoes slices and salt. After about five minutes add the wine and the anise. Don’t add a lot of anise (liquor), only a few drops. We let the alcohol evaporate, toss the beans and let the mix a couple of minutes and add water until it covers the bean. Finally, add pepper.

After about ten minutes, add the whole sausage full of holes you’ve previously done so it doesn’t break into pieces. We wait another ten minutes and try it to see if we have to add more salt to the beans. If the beans are still hard let them cook a little longer and if necessary add a little more of water as they get tender if there isn’t enough stock.

Once they are tender enough, put them out of the fire and cut the black sausage (butifarra negra), the bacon (panceta) and the sausage (longaniza) apart.

And we have our beans with sausage, which are delicious accompanied with a good bread!

Enjoy your meal!