Garbanzos con chorizo (Chickpeas with Spanish Sausage)

I need to start off by disclaiming myself that no copyright infringement is intended and that this blog and all of the recipes included are intended for personal use only.  If anyone would like a recipe or post removed, please let me know!  The cookbooks I post about are ones that I or friends own and think are incredible resources, so please be flattered and not offended that I'm sharing your recipes!

With that being said, here's my first official entry!


One of the best souvenirs I can think of when traveling is a cookbook (suprise!).  I have a modest collection of cookbooks bought abroad and the first recipe I'm going to share is coming from one of them!

My current favorite cookbook

During summer 2012 I worked with a study abroad program in Valencia, Spain.  While I was there, I bought what could very well be my favorite cookbook to date.  It could be because it's shiny and new, but it's probably for the amazing pictures and personal stories throughout.  It's called Cocina Tradicional Española: Primavera, Verano, Otoño e Invierno and was written by José Pizarro.  This book was all wrapped up in plastic, adding to the allure, and this is one book that I say can most definitely be judged by its cover.  It's, in a word, beautiful.

The version I have is written in Spanish, but there's an English version, too!  If it's not the exact same, it should be very similar!

It focuses on the four seasons and what dishes work well during each.  While this theming is interesting, I'm going to make whatever I want, whenever I want because it's the beginning of August and I can't wait until winter to make the recipe I'm sharing with you today!

I've made a few other recipes from this book already, but normally I'm too excited to get to cooking, and therefore eating, to think about documenting my culinary adventures.


Garbanzos con chorizo (Chickpeas with Spanish Sausage)

All of the ingredients laid out.  Note the garbage bowl and the large red bowl that holds the dry chickpeas!

Ingredients (serves 4):

• 10 oz dried chickpeas
• 4 Tbsp Extra virgin olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped (If you like garlic, add a third clove, like I did!)
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 10 oz fresh spicy chorizo, cut in rounds
• 8 oz pancetta, cubed
• 32oz chicken stock (or more if necessary)
• 1 bay leaf (or two, if they're smaller)
• sea salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1 small bunch of chopped parsley (optional)

If you can't find chorizo, try substituting Italian sausage

Pancetta can be replaced with good quality bacon

Directions:

Soak the dried chickpeas in a good amount of cold water for at least 6 hours, or preferably overnight.

Heat the oil in a deep sauté pan and add the garlic, onion, and carrot.  Cook until golden and then add the chorizo and pancetta until they are also golden on both sides.

Add the chicken stock and bay leaf.  Bring to a boil, add the soaked and drained chickpeas, and cook for about an hour.  Test the chickpeas every now and then to check to see if they're cooked.  While the mixture cooks, remove the grease from the chorizo and any foam that collects on the surface.  If the stew starts to get low on chicken stock, add some more.  Or you can add water if you don't have any extra stock.

Once the chickpeas are tender, but not mushy, season it to taste with salt and pepper.

Divide the stew in four bowls, drizzle each with a small amount of olive oil, and if you'd like, sprinkle with chopped parsley.

Below are pictures of the step-by-step process described above:

Two carrots, an onion, and 3 cloves of garlic

Chorizo cut into rounds

Pancetta cut into cubes

Deep sauté pan with olive oil

Add carrots, onion, and garlic

Sauté until they start to brown

Add chorizo and pancetta and brown them

Once they start to brown

Add chicken broth and two small bay leaves

After the chicken broth comes to a boil, add the chickpeas

Foam forming and grease rising 

Nearing completion...

What the book says the dish should look like...

...and how my dish turned out

My dish isn't quite as vibrantly colored, but let me tell you it is delicious!  I think mine is lacking paprika, which should have come from the chorizo.  Anyways, now that you've seen how the book presents the dish compared to my version, I'll share some hints and tips that I used along the way!

Let's start with the chickpeas.  The recipe calls for dried chickpeas which you then soak for at least six hours or overnight.

Dried chickpeas in large bowl

Cover them completely with water

After soaking overnight

When using dried chickpeas, make sure you put them in a bowl larger than you think they're going to need.  They will expand as they soak and absorb the water.  

Cover them completely with cold water.  They need room to grow!  They will at least double in size!

Once they've set six hours or overnight, drain them and they're ready to use.  They're not cooked or ready to eat, of course, but they're reconstituted for use in recipes!  



If dried chickpeas aren't your thing...or in other words if you want to eat now and are impatient...you can substitute the dried chickpeas with canned chickpeas.  Just drain and go!  If you chose to go the canned route, you'll need about 20 ounces of drained chickpeas.  (FYI, I weighed the soaked chickpeas and it was about 40 ounces in total, liquid included.)  I would imagine that canned beans would get mushy quickly in this recipe, so keep that in mind, as well!

Additionally, the meats used in this dish are two ingredients that may not be readily available or may be out of the budget.

Traditional Spanish chorizo

Traditional Spanish chorizo is a cured meat, meaning that it doesn't have to be cooked before eating.  The chorizo that I got from my butcher was fresh and needed to be cooked.  The recipe itself calls for fresh chorizo, as well, but, in my opinion, the picture from the book looks more like cured chorizo.  The rounds are too perfect!  My chorizo, as it cooked, kind of bloated out and was cinched around the middle by the casing.  It kind of reminded me of myself while tapa-ing in Spain...needing a larger belt, that is.



When cutting the fresh chorizo, be careful with the casing or you'll just have ground sausage!  I used a small serrated knife and patience.  It mostly worked.  For more information on chorizo, visit your friendly, neighborhood wikipedia page (linked on picture caption).

As for pancetta, like I said, good bacon would of course work.  Or pork belly.  Really any type of bacon-like pork would work.  Ask your butcher for recommendations if they don't have pancetta and you don't want to use bacon!  Except for special occasions, I will be switching to our butcher's bacon, as it's about $3.99 a pound and pancetta is about $17.99 a pound...so, yea, there's that...

For that matter, for a lighter dish, these meats could be replaced with chicken or turkey products.  But that would greatly detract from the Spanish deliciousness that is this dish.

Well, that's all for today!  Please try this dish and comment!

Hasta luego!