Broad Beans ,vitorian style

                                                                               Receta en Español

Favas or Broad Beans are native to Asia Minor, although some scholars suggest that  they originated in Central Africa.

The Romans made ​​great use of this type of beans which they turned into flour to make bread.

They form part of the diet of inhabitants of Navarra and Álava.

Broad Beans are so consumed and produced in Álava that they have a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO);

This dish is one of the most typical if you want to make a meal based on food from the Spanish region of Álava.

Ingredients (3 people):

• 450 grams of beans.
• 120 g of cured ham.
• 60 g  of bacon.
• Oil.
• Salt.
• Water.

Method:

1. Shell the beans and wash them.
2. Pour water in the pot (just to cover the beans), heat until it boils.
3. Add the beans and salt ,then cook over medium heat 30 to 40 minutes.
   
4. Meanwhile, put the ham ,bacon and a tablespoon of oil in a frying pan ,sauté  it. Once it is ready, add  it to the pot of beans and cook for other 5 minutes until the broth thickens. 

5. Salt to taste. If the beans are large you can peel them.

My comments to the Recipe : It is an easy recipe to prepare, if we don't know exactly how much water to use, do not worry too much, if we have too much water, rather than taking and moving the ham and bacon to the pot, we do the opposite, we put the beans in the pan adding just a little water (not to let them dry).Of course, it would be better if we add just the necessary quantity of water from the beginning  ,this way we will not lose the vitamins that remain in the broth.

Talking about the taste of the dish, great! . Ham and bacon go very well with broad beans.

 

 

Álava



Quinoa soup

                                                                               Receta en Español

Quinoa is a seed from a weed native to the Andes Mountains of Bolivia, Chile and Peru.
It is a highly nutritious food , it has been eaten for 5000 years by people living in that area.
Incas named this seed 'God's food', it provides more minerals, and vitamins that any other cereal.
This seed is used as an important ingredient in many soups.

The recipe I present today is from 'La Paz' , Bolivia.

Ingredients:

-  1/2 Kg chicken or  beef.
-  100 grams Quinoa.
-  40 grams Green peas.
-  40 grams broad beans.
-  2 carrots.
-  1 potato.
-  Salt and grinded cumin to taste.
-  1 onion.
-  2 cloves of garlic.
-  2 spoons of chooped parsley.

Method:

1- First of all quinoa should be cleaned. Spread it on a dish and remove all the little stones, you can see in the picture what this stones look like (they are grey or black).

The coating of the seed conteins saponins, which are toxic and provide a bitter taste to the quinoa. So that quinoa should be well rinsed before being cooked.
Put quinoa in a strainer and pour wáter over it until you see water is clear, stir it from time to time to help the coating of the seeds go away.

2- Put in a saucepan meat, chopped onion, carrots cut in strips, garlic and salt.
Add water and boil for 40 minutes or until meat is cooked.
I cooked 1 Kg chicken because I used it later for another recipe.

3- Once meat is cooked, add broad beans, green peas and cumin.

Take out the meat and reserve what we are not using for this recipe, cut the rest of the meat into little pieces and add it again to the saucepan.

Now is time to add quinoa to the saucepan.

4- Wash potato , put it in another saucepan with water and salt, boil it until potato is soft when you prick it.

5- Once quinoa is open, add to the saucepan the cooked, peeled and cut in pieces potato .

6- Cook for a few minutes and it is ready!

Sprinkle parsley and serve!.

Comments to the Recipe

Quinoa has a good taste, this makes this a delicious soup, besides it provides a lot of minerals, and vitamins given by the quinoa.

Where you can buy quinoa

Quinoa is easy to find at latin products stores or  at biostores.

Here you have a link to my favourite cooking tools where you can find my spices grinder:  

Favourite cooking tools

                                                                  By Caleb Moore (xrmap flag collection) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons