Asturian Ham and Beans
This is Spain' s most famous bean dish, wonderfully flavoured, robust food from the northern regions. The fabes are big, fat white beans which cook up soft without disintegrating. Where unavailable, substitute the bigger dried lima beans or butter beans, or any large white bean. The morcilla and chorizo should be, if possible, from Asturias, where they are oak-smoked. Lacón is cured pork hand. If not available, use ham. Salt beef, salt-cured pig trotters and hard longaniza sausage are also used.

The day before: put the beans to soak in plenty of water. Put the lacón or ham to soak ovemight in hot water. Blanch the salt pork in boiling water for five minutes. The following day: wash the sausages to elirninate excess smokiness. Drain the beans and put in an earthenware casserole or large cooking pot and add water to a depth of two fingers. On a hot fire, bring to the boil and skim off the froth. Toast the saffron in a frying pan, crush it in a mortar and dissolve in a little water and add to the beans. Add the lacón, ham and salt pork to the casserole, pushing them to the bottom of the beans. Cover and cook five minutes and skim again. Now add the chorizo and morcilla, boil five rninutes and skim. Add bay-leaf, cover and cook very slowly, two to three hours. Add cold water occasionally just to keep the beans barely covered so they don't dry out and split. Do not stir, but shake the casserole from time to time. When beans are quite tender, let them sit for 20 minutes to blend and mellow the flavours. If toa much liquid remains, purée some of the cooked beans in the blender and add them to the casserole to thicken the sauce. Serves 4.

  posted by Paul credits: Cooking In Spain, Janet Mendel