This week, Carmen, my Spanish friend came to visit me, she was so kind and brought me 2 kilos of morcillas. I was very happy indeed, however with two kilos I am the only one who eat them at home. Luckily I can keep most of  them in the freezer. I keep one to have it today. I came across this Spanish blood sausage, morcilla years ago from my Spanish friends of course. I was intrigued as I thought the European will be scared of eating food products that consist of blood as we Chinese do. I said to Carmen in the past that Spanish and Chinese do have several things, not only foodwise but also some of our mentality.

At that time, I learnt from them that the easiest way to prepare as a tapas by cutting the morcilla into slices, dust them in corn flour and panfried them in olive oil and serve. So here I am I, I panfried a few slices of morcilla,  enjoyed with a glass of Rioja and turned on my favorite Spanish music by Mecano. It reminded me our good old days when I travelled around in Europe with the great bunch of Spanish friend. As the stew will take some time to cook, this will keep me going until the stew is ready. 

Inspired by Núria’s beans porridge, because I could not get the pig feet and snout, I had adapted her recipe a bit. I used paprika instead of saffron because I have run out at home and I don’t want to drive out in the snowy condition. The taste still came out very good because of the Spanish sausages,they made the flavor very unique. This stew is perfect in the current snowy weather which keeps me warm.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1 onion morcilla (cut into quarters)
• 2 fresh chorizo (cut into big pieces)
• one medium onion (chopped)
• 3 small potatoes (cut into big pieces)
• 1 bowl of cannellini beans
• 2 large tomatoes (peeled and cut into quarters)
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 500ml of chicken stock (dissolve 1 tbsp of chicken powder into water)

Method:

1. Soak the dried cannellini beans overnight, and prepare the beans according to the great tips illustrated by Núria
2. In a large pan, heat up the olive oil and add in the chopped onion, stir-fry them until softened.
3. Add in the chorizo and stir fry for 1 minute, then add in the beans, potatoes and tomatoes.
4. Pour in the chicken stock, add the paprika and cayenne pepper, cover and bring to boil and simmer at medium high heat for 1 hr or until the beans and potatoes are softened. Since the morcilla is rather soft, add this to the stew in the last 30 minutes.
5. Taste if need more seasoning such as salt. For me, I did not need to add more seasoning, the flavors of chorizo and morcilla have immersed into the sauce.
6. Serve in a hot Spanish earthware.

Short note to my friend, Carmen:

Hi there, Pity that I cannot join the big annual gathering after all these years, I hope I can make it next year. It was great meeting you in Colmar the other day despite it was short. I will be thinking of you guys that day, thanks so much for bring me the morcilla and here is the dish dedicated to our group.

Lots of hugs and kisses

Janet