A recipe from the forthcoming SHH (Sustainability, Health, Heritage) Recipe Book.
Ingredients
(For 4 people)
400g White beans
250g Collard greens (about four leaves)
1 Onion
1 red pepper
1 green pepper
3 garlic cloves
2 carrots
2 potatoes
2 teaspoons sweet paprika
Salt
Olive oil
Instructions
To begin with, in a large pot with a lid, add the soaked and drained beans, the onion peeled and cut in half, the two carrots peeled, and the two peppers peeled and cut in half. Cover everything with cold water, about three fingers above the vegetables. Bring the water to the boil and, with the help of a skimmer, remove the foam that the legume gives off. Add a little salt (later we will season to taste) and cover. Let the beans cook over medium-low heat for an hour and a half.
After this time, add the potatoes, peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces. It is good to tear the potato when cutting each piece, not cut it entirely with a knife. Also add the cabbage leaves, washed and cut into julienne (long pieces like chips). Let them cook for half an hour.
After two hours of cooking, the vegetables will be very soft, and the collard greens and beans almost at their point. with the help of tweezers, extract the vegetables (minus the collard greens) and place them in a blender glass.
Now heat some oil in a pan and fry the rolled garlic. When cooked, remove the pan from the heat, add the paprika, stir everything, and pour the garlic over the stew. Test that the beans and potatoes are done (you can fearlessly lengthen the cooking if they are still hard) and add more salt to taste if necessary. When everything is to your liking, turn off the heat and eat.
About the recipe
Mountain stew (cocido montañes) is the typical food of Cantabria, Spain. It is a stew from the mountainous interior of the region, whose essential components are white beans and collard greens (usually of the pitcher handle variety) to which is added the compango (trimmings) composed of chorizo, rib, blood sausage and bacon from the slaughter of the hogs. It is a main course, with high caloric intake, so it is often consumed as a single dish and more frequently in the winter months. Unlike other types of typical Spanish stews such as madrileño, maragato, pasiego or lebaniego, the montañés does not have chickpeas as the main element of the dish and also, unlike in other stews, all the ingredients are eaten at once, without separating the stock from the rest.
It is believed that it arose in the seventeenth century and was preparing to combat the rigors of the wet and cold winter climate. Currently it is famed within the region, the valley of Cabuérniga being the home of the mountain stew par excellence, although it can be consumed anywhere in Cantabria.
The name of “mountain stew” for this dish is recent. José Luis Herrero Tejedor, Delegate of Information and Tourism in 1966, found that in Cantabria there was no regional dish of great fame, so the stew began to be known as cocido montañés.
With the omission of the meat, as in this version, it becomes a vegan dish that scores much higher on both health and sustainability.