Stovetop Skillet Pizza: a slice of disappointment

We miss hosting pizza parties with the wood-fired pizza oven we built in Arlington. In our small Barcelona flat we avoid cranking up an oven -- it gets hot here, and energy is more expensive than in the States. Could we make pizza on the stovetop?

TL;DR: No -- the corona was floppy and the crust gummy instead of crispy.

Classic Margherita: tomato sauce, buffalo mozzarella, basil

Most recipes for "cast iron pan pizza" build it in the pan but then cook it in a hot oven. The Kitchn has a good post that cooks one side at a fairly low temperature, then flips, tops, and finishes covered to melt the cheese; seems like a good place to start, but we'll make our own dough.

I'm using the same 66% hydration I used for our pizza parties, similar to when we tested steel, stone, and brick for the oven during COVID. The pizza flour we can find here contains sodium carbonate as a leavener which I don't want, so we'll use strong flour (Farina de blat de força) that has 13% protein -- close to the 12.5% that our Italian 00 flour had.

350 g  Flour, strong (13% protein)

  2 g  Yeast (1/2 tsp)

 10 g  Salt (volume depends on coarseness)

230 g  Water

Weigh the dry ingredients into a bowl, stir to combine, make a well, and weigh in the water. 

Stir, combine, and push around to get it to form a shaggy ball.

On the counter, knead enough to get the lumps out; it'll be sticky.

This should be good enough for an extended rise with the high hydration we're using -- the "no knead" technique.

Put back into a covered bowl or lidded tub and let rise slowly in the fridge for 1-3 days; the long slow fermentation develops a lot more flavor than fast rises; it should at least double in size. 

I let it rise 3 days, pulled it out 2 hours before starting to prep and saw it was bubbly -- hopefully not too over-risen. I turned out the 570 g blob onto a floured counter and cut it into three 190 g balls, shaped into balls, and dropped them into lightly oiled containers to rise a bit. I used this time to make a garlic-chili oil and gather toppings.

As the Kitchn says, I cooked the first side in a oiled cast iron skillet for a couple minutes to set it, then flipped and topped.

After topping, I covered with a lid until the cheese melted, and checked the bottom for scorching, and pulled it out when it was browned enough.

Our third came out with the best texture, using level #6 (of 0-9) on our induction cooktop for both sides. But the corona was gummy and the center didn't really seem cooked all the way through. It may be that our elderly induction cooktop doesn't have coils that extend to the edge of our cast-iron pan, but I really don't see how we could ever get a crust like from our pizza oven -- it's just a slice of disappointment. With a certified Napoli-style pizza place a half block from our house, this just isn't worth the time and trouble.

Our best: Mallorcan sobrasada and quail eggs

We'd like to try using the same dough recipe (the texture and quantity were good) but cook it on a barbeque. We've done this before, but we'll need something under it -- aluminum foil? -- or else it'll sag through rack like the clock in Dali's "Persistence of Memory".

Bacalhau com Natas: Portuguese salt cod with cream sauce

Friends of ours mentioned enjoying this while traveling in Portugal and it sounded like fun since I enjoy Bacalao. It turned out well: very rich, creamy, with soft potatoes -- a fine dish for cooler weather. 

Crusty gratin with creamy bacalao and potatoes

This recipe is based on several I found: Crumb-Snatched, We Travel Portugal, Authentic Food Quest, and Portuguese Soul Kitchen. Most boil the fish in water but AFQ's cooks it in milk which makes more sense: it flavors the milk rather than diluting the fish. All the recipes call for Mozzarella for the gratin, but that seems too pizza-like so I used Parmesan and another cheese which I had on hand; you could use only Parmesan.

I'm using frozen Bacalao/Bacallà al punt de sal for convenience, and because it's less expensive than the dry salt cod I reserve for dishes like Pil Pil. If you use dry Bacalao, you'll need to hydrate for 2-3 days in several changes of water. Some recipes suggest using store bought shoestring fries instead of frying potatoes yourself, which I think is clever, but I'm not stooping to that yet. The recipe below had Cream and more Cheese, but this seemed a bit excessive, overpowering the fish, so I've tweaked it.

This serves 2 generously.

300 g      Bacalao al punt de sal, thawed

300 g      Milk

  1        Bay Leaf

 45 ml     Olive Oil

  1 large  Onion, yellow or white, peeled, sliced

  2 clove  Garlic, sliced

300 g      Potato, peeled, cut into 1 cm cubes

 20 g      Butter

 20 g      Flour

           Nutmeg, grated

           Salt

           Pepper

 25 g      Cheese, Pecorino Romano and/or Parmesan, grated

  5 sprigs Parsley, chopped 

If using dried Bacalao, hydrate it 2-3 days in multiple changes of water.

To save time, cook the Bacalao at the same time as you sauté the Onions, then make the bechamel while frying the Potatoes.

In a pot, gently simmer the Bacalao in the Milk with the Bay, covered on low for 5 minutes until barely cooked and starting to flake.

Drain, reserving the Milk.

Discard any skin, bones, and the Bay.

Flake the fish with fork or fingers.

Onions and garlic on left, bacalao and milk on right

In a skillet, sauté Onion and Garlic in 15 ml Oil until tender, reserve to a cazuela or baking dish.

Coat the bottom of the same skillet with 30 ml Oil and fry the Potatoes until golden and barely cooked through; cover the skillet after developing the crust to speed the cooking.

In the same pot as you simmered the Bacalao, melt Butter and add Flour, whisk to create a paste and cook the Flour for a few minutes.

Slowly add the fishy Milk and cook, whisking continuously until you get a sauce a little thicker than heavy cream. 

Add the Nutmeg, then adjust with Salt and Pepper. 

Remove from heat.

Preheat the oven to 200C.

Layer the Potatoes on the Onions/Bacalao in the cazuela and shake to distribute evenly.

Top with the bechamel, and even out again.

Top with grated Cheese.

Bake at 200C for 20 minutes until cheese is melted and browned.

Garnish with Parsley.

Serve with a dry white wine.

Canelones Rossini: pâté for the gourmet

Canelones/Canalóns are well-loved in Catalunya; this blog post has a good history. The "Rossini" version is a bit fancy, adding pâté per the composer's reputation as a "militant connoisseur". This recipe comes from a Canal Sur video. 

We've made Canelones before with homemade pasta. Here in Barcelona, every store carries "placas" of Canelones: sheets of dried pasta that are uncooked or precooked. The original recipe used "carne" (beef) but beef/pork mixes are common, as are ground pork, chicken, and turkey -- you can use whichever you like. Rossini may have used Foie Gras, but Pâté has a better texture for this and is much more affordable. You can tweak the vegetables in the filling, but I think Onions should definitely be included. Other recipes don't use the veggies, add ham, while some mush up the meats and add cream, but we find the texture of the ground meat more pleasant. Tomate Frito is a cooked tomato sauce, thicker than uncooked puree. 

The box of uncooked sheets had 20 sheets, while the precooked had 18 but ours stuck mercilessly so we ended up with only 12 -- not doing that again! It's not nearly so common to find the pasta tubes I'm used to seeing in The States.

This makes 4 servings, and they reheat gracefully in the microwave.

 20 sheets  Canelone pasta (uncooked)

            Olive Oil

  1         Onion, fine dice

  3 cloves  Garlic, finely sliced

  1         Carrot, grated

  1 small   Green/Red Pepper (mild), finely diced

300 g       Ground Beef/Pork mix

 60 ml      Tomate Frito [4 Tbs]

120 g       Pâté

            Salt

            Pepper

 50 g       Flour

 50 g       Olive Oil

500 ml      Milk

            Nutmeg

            Cheese (e.g., Parmesan, Manchego), grated or sliced

Given the problem we've had with the precooked sheets sticking, I strongly suggest the uncooked pasta sheets; the precooked ones don't save much time, really. Bring a large pot of salted water to a strong boil and drop the sheets, one-by-one, into it, and stir so they don't stick to the bottom nor to each other. Boil for 12-15 minutes per the box -- we wanted a bit more texture so stay to the shorter time. Rinse in cold water to stop cooking and prevent sticking. Remove and lay on kitchen towels or directly on an oiled counter to dry.

Meanwhile, start the filling.

Sauté the Onions, Garlic, Carrot, Pepper.

Add the Meat and sauté until cooked.

Add 60 ml Tomate Frito and combine.

Turn off heat and add Pâté, then mix to meld the ingredients.

Add Salt and Pepper to taste.

Adding pâté to veg and meat

While that's cooking, prepare the bechamel.

Cook the Flour in the Oil until the Flour's cooked; a whisk is perfect here.

Add the Milk and whisk to make a Bechamel with a texture of light cream.

Grate in the Nutmeg.

Add 2 Tbs Tomato Sauce.

If it's a bit thick, add Milk; if too thin, boil to reduce.

Preheat oven to 200C.

Add a bit of Oil a baking dish (we used three Pyrex loaf pans) and spread; this keeps the pasta from sticking to the dish, and causes them to develop a slight crunch on the bottom.

Lay out a few Pasta Sheets and add about a finger-sized line of filling.

Roll them up, overlapping the seam a little, and place them in the baking dish or loaf pan seam side up so the serving spatula doesn't unwrap them

Top the Canelones with the Bechamel, then add grated/sliced Cheese.

Bake 20 minutes until the Cheese is golden and the filling is heated through.

Let sit a few minutes to set up, then serve.

Japanese Cheesecake

I love cheesecake and have been hearing about this trendy light Japanese crustless version, so I tried to make it. On my third attempt, I think I've come up with something that works well: it's fluffy, almost soufflé-like. Everything here is taken from the exquisitely-detailed recipe/technique from Nami at Just One Cookbook, so look there for better photos and descriptions, including a link to a helpful video. Hers looks a lot more professional than mine, but I'm happy with the flavor and texture I've gotten with my too-short pan.

Cheesecake has a muffin top due to my short cake pan

For my first try, I used her parchment lining technique but with a springform pan and was annoyed by the fidgety parchment lining; worse, the water bath seeped through my tin foil lining making the bottom a bit soggy. For my second try, I realized I didn't need to line the springform pan -- it would release fine -- and I put the water bath below the cake pan (for humidity) instead of bathing the pan: it came out dense on the bottom, indicating the cake needed the heat moderated by the bath.  On my third try, I used a solid pan -- as Nami does -- directly in a water bath, and just dealt with the parchment lining; my pan is slope-sided where hers is straight, which makes lining a little more difficult, but it doesn't have to be exact; it worked well enough that I don't think I need to buy another pan with straight sides -- I can live with the muffin-top profile.

Her recipe is long, but very detailed, which I appreciate. First, note that if your pan is smaller than hers/mine, she provides ingredients scaled to a single egg, then she provides the full 6-egg recipe, so you can scale for your pan. 

As an overview, you "melt" the cream cheese and other batter ingredients then whisk in the egg yolks and flour to make a batter. Then you whip the egg whites into a stiff meringue, then gently fold them together.  I follow her advice about dropping the oven temperature twice.

The 6 eggs barely fit my slope-sided pan which is 20 cm at bottom and 23 cm at the top; the parchment lining must be higher than my pan's 4 cm to accommodate the rise, but the parchment lining flexed and created the muffin-top shape. If you have a different sized pan, scale the recipe appropriately, but realize this will rise dramatically before falling while it slowly cools.

Do take her advice to measure the ingredients beforehand: there's plenty of prep work. I'm trying to simplify this a little by combining measuring into cooking vessels.

Prep the Cake Pan

Use a 23 cm / 9 inch solid cake pan, preferably 10 cm / 4 inch high (mine's only about 4 cm).
Butter the pan bottom and sides so the parchment will stick.
Cut parchment strips to make straps long enough to cross the bottom, up the sides, and over the edge; set them in an X-shaped pattern to make a sling to remove the finished cake.
Cut another strip 10 cm high and line the side of the pan.
Cut a disk for the bottom and press into place.
Set aside.

Sling straps, sides and bottom lined

Batter

  6    Eggs, large

300 g  Cream Cheese

 60 g  Unsalted Butter

200 ml Heavy Whipping Cream (about 35% fat)

       Zest from 1/2 Lemon

 30 ml Lemon Juice (from about 1/2 lemon)

 80 g  Cake Flour

Separate the Eggs and chill the Whites for the Meringue below.
Make a double boiler from a pot of water topped by a medium-sized bowl.
Weigh the Cream Cheese, Butter, Cream, Sugar directly in the bowl.
Add to the double boiler and warm to melt the ingredients, combining with spatula or whisk.
When blended, remove from heat.
Sift in the Cake Flour through a strainer, and whisk to blend.
Strain through the strainer into a large bowl.
Whisk in the Lemon Zest and Juice.
Whisk in the Egg Yolks, one by one, with a hand whisk.

Prepare Oven and Water Bath

Put a roasting pan in the oven and preheat to 165C with convection (15C higher without).

Bring 1 Liter of water to boil.

Meringue

  6   Egg Whites from above, cold

100 g Sugar

1.5 g Cream of Tartar (optional to stabilize)

Clean the medium bowl thoroughly for the Meringue: don't leave any fat, soap, or water on it which would interfere with the development of the foam.

Whip the Egg Whites with an electric whisk (stick blender attachment) on medium until opaque, foamy, and just a little bubbly, about 2-4 minutes.

Whisk in the Sugar and Cream of Tartar, a bit at a time, then increase whisk speed to high; whip until quite dense and it forms stiff peaks.

Gently fold in a third of the Batter with a hand whisk, then repeat with another third, then finally mix it back into the Batter and gently combine with the whisk.

Pour into the lined cake pan.

Pour boiling water carefully into the hot roasting pan, then place the cake pan in water bath; ideally the water will come half way up the cake pan.

Drop the temperature to 145C convection, bake 70-75 minutes.

Reduce temperature to 135C convection and bake another 10 minutes.

Check for doneness: a skewer should come out clean.

Turn off the oven and open the door a crack but let the cake cool very slowly to minimize collapse.

After 20 minutes, remove from the oven.

Use the straps as a sling and move the cake to a plate.

Remove the parchment around the sides. 

Let cool and serve.

Bacalao Stuffed Piquillos in Basque Sauce: richer, for two

We've been making this for years based on the book by Teresa Barrenechea: The Basque Table. Irene said the sauce overwhelmed the dish and that she wanted more fish with larger chunks in the peppers. This revised recipe addresses those desires, and scales it for a dinner for two. 

We're scaling some of the proportions based on ingredients we can find here. For example, instead of the dried salt cod at 24€/Kg, we can use half a bag of frozen Bacalao de Punto de Sal which is just 6€/Kg and doesn't require hydration to de-salt. The Pequillos come in 220 mg jar and ours contained 11 peppers. I had one Choricero pepper, not enough, so I added a Ñora. A pastry bag really simplifies stuffing the peppers, but a zip-top bag with corner cut off should work, or you can use a spoon if you're a masochist.

Stuffed and sauced, before baking

Bacalao Béchamel

250 g      Bacalao del Punto de Sal, frozen

 40 ml     Olive Oil

 20 g      Flour

175 g      Milk

Chop the Bacalao into pea-sized chunks, this is easier while it's still partially frozen.

Sauté on high heat in 40 ml Olive Oil to drive off water, about 5 minutes.

Add Flour and cook off the raw edge on medium, about 5 minutes.

Add Milk and continue cooking until it's noticeably thicker; you don't want it pour-able when hot.

Load a pastry bag with the filling, making sure its snout is big enough to accommodate the Bacalao chunks; let cool while you make the Sauce in the same skillet.

Basque Sauce

The original recipe hydrates dried Spanish chilis, but here we can find jars of Choricero and Ñora flesh ("carne") which is convenient if you haven't planned ahead.

 14 g      Choricero or Ñora Peppers, dried, or 150 g jar "carne"

165 g      Onion, 1 small to medium, diced

 30 ml     Olive Oil

  2 cloves Garlic

 15 g      Tomato (1/4 small)

           Salt

Seed the Chili Peppers and hydrate 8 hours; you can also simmer in hot water for about 30-60 minutes if needed. Keep the hydrating water. Roughly chop the Chilis.

Sauté the Onion in the 30 ml Olive Oil until soft.

Add the Garlic, Chilis, and Tomato, and continue to cook until the Garlic is soft; it's fine if the Onions take on a bit of color.

Transfer to the jar of a stick blender and whiz to make a sauce. You may need to add some of the reserved Chili hydration water to thin it enough -- that's fine, it has flavor. 

Taste and adjust Salt. 

If the Sauce is too thin, return it to the skillet and cook down to thicken.

Assembly

10-12  Pequillo Peppers, whole, from 290 g gross / 220 g net jar

Preheat the oven to 200C.

Drain the Pequillos and arrange on a plate; I find it handy to put a shot glass in the center to hold the Pequillos as I'm stuffing them.

Fill the Pequillos with the Bacalao Béchamel using the pastry bag.

Spoon about a third of the Sauce into an oven proof baking dish.

Arrange the stuffed Pequillos around the dish and top with the remaining Sauce.

Bake for 15-30 minutes so everything's hot.

Serve.

"King of Carbonara" sauce: rich and indulgent

We saw this video of "The King of Carbonara" in Rome and new we had to try it: the technique of using the fat from the Guanciale and gently cooking the sauce in a bain-marie appealed to us. Even with his technique, this dish can be put together in about 15 minutes.

We first had Bucatini alla Carbonara at A. V. Restaurante Italiano (RIP) in Washington DC years ago; it is one of our "go to" dishes at home when we want some easy comfort food. Irene and I have slightly different approaches: she adds the hot pasta to the sauce and relies on the retained heat to cook the sauce, while I find that a bit too raw and add a bit of heat when combining in a pan. Either way, it's fast and satisfying: you can prep the sauce in the time it takes the pasta to cook.

Even with Chef Monosilio's more careful technique, the sauce can be made while the pasta cooks, then they come together over gentle heat. In the video, he cuts a large slab of Guanciale into cubes, fries them to render the fat and crisp the meat, and uses some of that fat in the sauce -- that's what hooked us. We can readily find 100 g packages of sliced Guanciale here in Barcelona: it's not cubed, but sliced like thick American bacon; it does have a good piggy funk to it. He uses a mix of Pecorino and Grana Padano because he said that folks now don't like the high salt level of Pecorino; the version of that cheese we get here isn't as dry and salty as what we found in the States, but we'll use his mix.  The proportions below are for two, and it's quite rich. He uses only the Yolks for extra intensity, but I find the sauce to be using whole eggs makes an attractively textured sauce

133 g Long Pasta: Bucatini, Spaghetti, etc

100 g Guanciale, sliced 1-2 mm x 2 cm (or 1 cm cubes)

 25 g Grana Padano (a good aged Parmesan should work), grated fine

 25 g Pecorino Romana, grated fine

  2   Eggs (or just Yolks)

      Black Pepper

Get your ingredients organized in a mise en place, since this comes together quickly.

 

Sauté the Guanciale with fairly high heat: you want to render fat and crisp the pork. When the meat's crispy and just browned, reserve it and let the fat cool down (separately or in the pan) so you don't end up cooking the Eggs too much.

 

While that's rendering, get a pot of salted water boiling and find a bowl or pan that can sit on top to create a bain-marie later. 

Cook the pasta until its fully done (not al dente), probably 10-12 minutes.

While the pasta cooks, prepare the sauce.

In a bowl/pan, whisk the Eggs (Yolks) and most of the grated Cheeses, reserving some for a garnish.

Whisk in the cooled Fat from the Guanciale pan; I used all of it (maybe 30 ml / 2 Tbs) but you might not be so gluttonous.

Add plenty of coarse freshly ground Black Pepper and whisk to combine.

If this is pasty, whisk in a little of the Pasta Water so it's a thick liquid.

When the Pasta is done, transfer it with tongs to the sauce bowl/pan; it's OK if some water clings to it. 

Put the bowl on the water Pot to create a bain-marie, and stir the sauce over the gentle heat; after a while, it should start to thicken a bit as the Yolks cook.

Continue stirring until the sauce is creamy and everything is well coated. You're looking for a creamy sauce with a texture like crème anglaise; avoid overcooking and setting the eggs. (Take a look at the video to see the texture you're looking for.) 

Don't add the Guanciale early like this or it will lose its crunch!

Plate the Pasta and garnish with the crispy Guanciale, reserved grated Cheese, and a healthy grind of Pepper.

Sopa de Ajo a la Castellana (Garlic Soup)

This recipe is based on our first use of Penelope Casas' recipe from ¡Delicioso! The Regional Cooking of Spain. It sounds like the flavor might be scary, but the garlic is cooked so long that it loses its vehemence. It's a very traditional soup here in Barcelona, especially around Christmastime.

She claims the secret is "the order in which the ingredients were combined" but I found it needlessly complex so I'm simplifying it here. I don't see any reason to create the water-garlic broth separately from adding the beef stock. Heating bowls of stock with the eggs in a hot oven to cook the eggs is a time/energy-waste and makes the bowls too hot to touch. I doubt it's critical to use 4.5 Cup of water but 4.0 Cup of stock, so I'm rounding to convenient metric units. Maybe it makes sense in the restaurant kitchen where she got the recipe, but it's unnecessary work for a home cook.

I also question whether we need water and stock: why not just use all stock for more flavor? Perhaps it would have too much mouth feel and get sticky with a good-quality homemade beef stock. I used a good Spanish boxed chicken stock because it's what I had, and I've seen many other recipes (including other Casas books) that use chicken stock. 

Overview: make a garlic broth, toast the bread in garlic-infused oil to make croutons, serve in bowls filled with an egg, ham, broth, and croutons. There's a lot of broth so make sure your pot can hold 2 Liters.

Servings: 6; with the egg, ham, and croutons, it's a filling lunch.
Duration: 1 hour.

 15 ml      1 Tbs     Olive Oil

  4 cloves  4 cloves  Garlic, lightly crushed and peeled

  3 g       1   tsp   Pimenton dulce (sweet smoked paprika)

                      Pepper

  1 L       4   C     Stock, beef or chicken

  1 L       4.5 C     Water

                      Salt

 75 ml      5 Tbs     Olive Oil

  4 cloves  4 cloves  Garlic, minced

  1 L       4.5 C     stale/dry Bread, sliced/torn into crouton sizes

  3 g       1 tsp     Pimenton dulce (sweet smoked paprika)

  6         6         Eggs

 30 g       6 Tbs     Jamon Serrano, cut small for a spoon

In a large pot, add the Oil and crushed Garlic. Sauté slowly until lightly browned and beginning to soften.
Add the Pimenton and Pepper to bloom briefly, then the Stock and Water.
Simmer slowly, covered, for 45 minutes to extract the Garlic flavor.
Taste and add Salt as needed.

Meanwhile, put the Oil and minced Garlic in a large wide skillet and slowly cook until the Garlic begin to take on just a little color; don't darken too much as you'll be heating it more with the bread. 
Add the Bread pieces and sauté until they are crisp and golden, about 15 minutes; stop if the Garlic is getting too dark and acrid.
Remove from heat and add the Pimenton, stir to coat and bloom flavor.

To serve, crack an egg and slide whole into each bowl.
Top with Jamon.
Bring Broth to vigorous boil and pour over Egg and Jamon; the Egg should poach a little.
Top with Garlic Croutons.
Serve.

Fabada Asturiana rehearsal

We watched a video of Jose Andres with chefs  preparing a Fabada Asturiana and wanted to give this iconic dish a try. At the market, we looked for the (domain-protected) Asturian fabes de la Granja, but the closest we could find were Catalan Mongetes Ganxet. We also found a butcher with a bundle of the meats appropriate for a fabada.  Today's cold, and I didn't think to soak the beans last night, so today I'll treat this as a rehearsal for when I have the correct beans and time to soak them. 

Despite the compromised time and beans, this came out quite well: rich, intense, but not thick and sticky. The beans -- the star of the show -- held together and were creamy with a delicate skin. The sausages were intense. A simple recipe with quality ingredients treated with respect.

Fabada, pan catalana, Basque cider

The Cookful suggests cooking dried beans for about 25 minutes in an Instantpot, but I wanted to be careful with the texture -- I don't want the beans to explode. Here, I'm doing a high-heat fast soak from The Spruce Eats fabada recipe. Ingredients and techniques come from there, plus Saveur, Spanish Sabores, and the Guardian. The recipes, scaled for for 2 people, range from 140 to 300g dried beans, so I'll use 200g. Quantities of the ingredients aren't critical. 

Simple: beans, onion, pimenton, garlic, saffron, oil

Serves 2 hungry shepherds or 3 sedentary adults

200 g      dried Mongetes Ganxet ("crochet beans" due to their curve)

           Olive Oil, Spanish

150 g      small Onion

  1 clove  Garlic, minced

  1 g      Pimenton Dulce

150 g      Tocino (pork belly, slab pancetta)

115 g      Spanish Chorizo (1 link)

120 g      Morcillo (1 link)

pinch      Saffron

 ~4 g      Salt

Put the Beans into a large pot, cover generously with water, bring to boil for 1 minute, then turn off and cover, and let sit for 1 hour.

Meanwhile, cut the Onion into large chunks you can fish out later, then sauté in Olive Oil until soft but not browned. Add the Garlic and Pimenton and sauté a few minutes more to bloom the flavors.

Drain the beans, add back to the large pot with the Tocino, sautéed Onions, Garlic, and Pimenton; add water to cover.

Bring to boil over high heat and skim any scum. 

Reduce to medium, add Saffron and Salt; simmer covered until Beans are slightly al dente in the center; check after an hour, but it might take 90 minutes.

Do not stir as it will break the delicate beans.

Make sure the water just covers the beans, add some if needed.

Remove the Onion.

Add Chorizo and Morcilla, and continue simmering until beans are velvety and cooked through, about 15-45 minutes more; it's OK if a few beans break apart.

Remove the Sausages and Tocino, slice into thick coins.

Adjust Salt. 

Ladle stew into bowls, top with Sausages and Tocino.

Serve with crusty bread and an good quality Asturian, Basque or other Spanish cider. Ours was Basque, and not expensive.

I'd make this again, even with my unsoaked Catalan beans. The chorizo was intensely flavored -- salty, vinegar-y, full of pimenton --  definitely an ingredient rather than something you'd put on a bun. This particular morcilla (blood sausage) was not to our liking: Chris found it too coarse and scary, Irene said it was too heavy on the vinegar; next time I'd seek out a more smooth morcilla. The 1 g of Pimenton was probably not necessary, given how much the chorizo contributed.

2025-05-03 Real beans, higher percentage

At the Sants Mercat Nou, we got the proper beans from Asturias -- they're huge!

A 300 g bag soaked overnight provided 700 g beans.

I'm going to use half of these, since the 200 g dried beans from before fed "2 hungry shepherds".

The beans were still a bit al dente / chalky after 60 minutes plus 30, so next time give them 90 minuets in the first simmer to finish with a creamy texture; but it all depends on what beans you get, and how old they are, etc.

We got a 200 g package of the mixed meats from the store, and that seems a good reduction from the meat-heavy proportions above.

I blitzed the broth-cooked onions with a bit of the broth and added it back to give it some body, and avoid discarding flavor. 

This chorizo was not as pimenton-y nor vinegar-y as the previous, and the morcilla was not as coarse.