The region of Asturias in Spain is famous for a number of iconic and filling bean-centric dishes, such as Fabada Asturiana. Garbanzo beans are also very popular in this region of Spain, where you will see them featured in flavorful stews that are often seasoned with products such as pork belly, chorizo, morcilla, and bacalao. In this recipe, fresh cod fillets are added towards the end of the cooking process, after the potatoes and garbanzo beans have been fully cooked through.
The recipe below is intended to feed 5-6 hungry people.
Asturian Garbanzo Bean & Potato Stew with Fresh Cod
The region of Asturias in Spain is famous for a number of iconic and filling bean-centric dishes, such as Fabada Asturiana. Garbanzo beans are also very popular in this region of Spain, where you will see them featured in flavorful stews that are often seasoned with products such as pork belly, chorizo, morcilla, and bacalao. In this recipe, fresh cod fillets are added towards the end of the cooking process, after the potatoes and garbanzo beans have been fully cooked through. The recipe below is intended to feed 5-6 hungry people.
Ingredients
- 2 cups dried garbanzo beans
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp Kosher salt
- 3 Tbsp cooking olive oil
- 2 yellow onions, medium dice
- 1 leek, cut into thin rounds and washed well
- 1 stalk celery, medium dice
- 3 medium-sized carrots, medium dice
- 1 red bell pepper, medium dice
- 3 cloves garlic, sliced thinly
- ¼ cup white wine, an Albarino would be ideal
- 5-6 cups fish stock, or vegetable stock
- 12 saffron threads, or about ½ tsp
- 3 bay leaves
- 4 medium-sized Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks
- Kosher salt & freshly-ground black pepper, to taste
- 16 oz worth of fresh cod fillets
- ¾ tsp kosher salt, for seasoning fish before poaching
Instructions
- The day before you plan to cook the beans, soak them in 6 cups of water with ½ of a tsp of baking soda and 2 tsp of Kosher salt.
- Allow the beans to soak overnight, or for at least 8 hours before cooking.
- *Note, the beans will roughly double in volume after being soaked, so make sure your container that you are soaking them in has enough water and space to accommodate the bean expansion.
- After your beans have soaked overnight, you are ready to start cooking.
- Drain the beans from the water and set them aside.
- Add 3 Tbsp of cooking olive oil to the bottom of your soup pot, and turn heat to medium-high.
- Add the diced onions, leeks, celery, and carrots, and cook for 5 minutes.
- Add the diced red bell pepper and sliced garlic, and cook for an additional minute.
- Add the ¼ cup white wine, and allow the wine to cook off for 4 minutes while you stir the vegetables.
- Add the fish stock, saffron threads, bay leaves, and drained garbanzo beans from earlier.
- Add a teaspoon or two of kosher salt to the fish stock, until it tastes pleasantly and very gently seasoned, but not salty.
- Bring the mixture up to a simmer, and cook for roughly 3 hours on medium-low heat, or until the garbanzo beans are completely tender.
- Add the Yukon Gold potatoes, and cook in the gently simmering garbanzo bean stew until the potatoes are tender.
- Taste, and finish seasoning the stew with Kosher salt & freshly-ground black pepper.
- Season the fresh cod fillets with Kosher salt on both sides.
- Turn the heat to the lowest possible setting, and add the cod fillets, making sure that they are submerged in the stew liquid.
- Allow the cod fillets to gently poach in the stew for about 7 minutes before serving in warm bowls.
- *The fresh cod fillets should be just barely cooked through when the stew is ready to serve.
- Serve stew hot, with warm fresh bread and a drizzle of olive oil.
Notes
The garbanzo bean and potato stew base keeps wonderfully in your fridge for up to a week after it has been made, and is easy to reheat. If I am eating leftovers, I prefer to cook some more fresh cod on the same day that I am reheating the stew base.