Hello Folks!!

Sunday we were invited to have lunch with some friends here in Spain at their Cortijo they have. Here they have land where they grow fruit and vegetables, have chickens running around and rabbits.  Also 3 very cute dogs!!  It was a lovely day, the sun was shining and was warm and I was pleased and excited to have been invited over earlier so I could watch Marie prepare lunch.

Lunch was a dish called Potaje de Hinojo (Stew of Fennel).  It is a stew of white and broad beans, fennel, potatoes, pork and black pudding.  The broad beans came from the land which they had previously picked and dried, the fennel too is from their garden.  The beans had been soaked overnight and then the dish is cooked in a pressure cooker. This needs to be slow cooked so the meat can be tender and melt.

Another one of the main ingredients to this dish is ‘tocino anejo’ which is salted bacon/pork fat, this flavours the stew and helps give it colour.

It is a favourite recipe of Marie and her family, and a typical Spanish dish, it is hearty and filling; a perfect winter’s lunch.

Take a look at the recipe below:

POTAGE DE HINOJO

Ingredients:

Dried white beans soaked in water overnight

Dried butter beans soaked in water overnight

Dried chickpeas soaked in water overnight

Tocino anejo

Fennel stalks and leaves only

Potatoes diced

Pork, Marie used chunks of belly pork, it needs to have a lot of fat on it so it becomes tender when cooked.

Spanish Black Pudding (morcilla)

Olive Oil

Water

Salt

Method:

Place the white beans and broad beans in a pressure cooked pan full of water and bring to the boil.  Add the full piece of tocino anejo, then add the pork, fennel, potatoes, chickpeas and a good pinch of salt.

Stir again then drizzle in a glug of olive oil.

Seal the lid on the pressure cooked and let this cook for an hour.  If you do not have a pressure cooker, then use a large pan, cover and cook for at least 2-3 hours.

After the hour, the beans should be cooked the sauce should be white in colour and the meat should be tender.  

Now add in 2 of the black pudding sausages whole, cook for a further 10 minutes.

To serve remove the meat chunks, the tocino anejo and the black puddings and pop onto a plate.  the idea is each person has a bowl of the stew and takes a chunk of meat and sausage.

Delicious!!

Here are some photos of our day :-)..

Our tapas starter below, it got eaten before I could take a photo as it was just delicious.  These are anchovies, that had been dried previously by Marie’s Mother in law.  On the day oil is heated then garlic is dropped into it along with these little fish.  They are tasty and crisp!!

What a lovely day, thanks to Marie, Juan for inviting us over 🙂 ❤

Lulu xxxx