Cool Cravings

Is it autumn?  It must be, because I finally was able to turn off the air conditioning (it's October!), put on a sweater, and think about hot, savory food for the first time since, well, since Spain.  We had a plenty of days like yesterday and today this past July, while Virginia dripped and melted in the heat and humidity.  So, now when there's a cool bite to the air,  I immediately start craving saffron and garlic like some kind of helpless Pavlovian dog. 

And I crave beans.  Somebody's always putting a dish of gigantic beans in front of your face in Northern Spain at just about every meal, but the beans themselves are different from most we have here.  The big white fabes beans, fat and creamy, absorb every bit of the garlic flavor of a dish and burst with a splat against the roof of your mouth, addictively.  Or maybe it's just me and my addictive personality, because I love these beans with a crazy kind of love that demands immediate satisfaction.  If you didn't stuff them in your socks (they were in their package and my socks were laundered and air-dried in the Spanish mountains; they weren't loose) and bring them home in your suitcase like me, you can, of course order them from La Tienda or substitute corona beans from Chefshop.com.  If you just can't, can't wait to try the following dish, cannellini beans are a kind of pathetically adequate substitute.

Fabes are the main ingredient in the famous Austuriano fabada, a porked-out bean stew I'll talk about another time.  They pair spectacularly well with seafood too, as in the following recipe for fabes con almejas.  They're also easy to overcook into mush, so most people recommend simmering them very, very slowly over low heat, and in the case of the dish below, adding the clams at the last minute.

Penelope Casas' Fabes con Almejas

1 lb. large white beans
2 onions, peeled and cut into halves
2 carrots, peeled and cut into halves
2 sprigs of parsley
2 bay leaves
A healthy pinch of saffron
Salt to taste

Soak the beans overnight.  Drain the next day and cover with cold water.  Add the onions, garlic, carrot, parsley sprigs, and bay leaves.  Bring to a boil, add 1 cup cold water to cut the boil, then return to a boil, cover, and simmer very slowly, 1 1/2-2 hours, until tender.

1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons minced onion
4 cloves of garlic, minced
2 dozen small, littleneck clams, at room temperature
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
2 tablespoons minced parsley
1/2 cup white wine
Large pinch of red pepper flakes
Freshly ground pepper

When the beans are almost tender, start the clams.  Heat the oil in a skillet and saute the onion and garlic until translucent.  Add the clams and cook over a medium high heat, stirring frequently, until they open.  Sprinkle in paprika and parsley.  Add the wine, red pepper flakes, and pepper.  Cook 5 minutes more.

Stir in the saffron and salt to taste into the beans, then add the clams with all their liquid to the pan.  Shake the pan to mix in the clams, then cover, and cook for five more minutes.  Scarf down at once and destroy your receipt for the beans from La Tienda before anyone else sees how expensive they are (remember, you have enough beans, thankfully, to make this again). Serves 4, with leftovers.

Comments

[Deborah Dowd]

Psych! We only thought fall had come to Virginia, but alas, Indian summer and humidity is back! I am totally with you. I am considering turning my AC down to 50 so I can make some fall comfort food!

[Brandon]

I can't handle this weather--or the lack of rain.