Chef Isabel
Acedías Fritas de Cádiz
Acedías fritas belong to Cádiz: tiny wedge sole, salted, dusted in frying flour, and dropped into very hot olive oil so the rims crisp while the fish stays tender.
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Botifarra amb Mongetes
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Botifarra amb mongetes is Catalan: fresh pork sausage cooked through, white beans turned in its fat until glossy, and allioli beside it. Simple food, if the sausage is right.
Appetizers & Snacks
Spanish
Comfort Food
Weeknight
Budget Friendly
15 min
Active Time
1 hr 30 min cook•9 hr 45 min total
Yield4 servings
Botifarra amb mongetes is Catalan, and it is as plain as a good dish can be: fresh botifarra, white beans, garlic, olive oil, and allioli on the side. What makes it itself is not smoke, spice, or a clever sauce. It is the clean pork sausage and the beans, mongetes, taking on the fat left in the pan.
The method that decides it is the order. Cook the botifarra first, gently enough that the skin browns without bursting and the inside cooks through. Then use that same pan for the beans. They should fry, not stew, so dry them well before they go in. If they hiss when they hit the fat, you're on the right road.
In Catalonia you would look for mongetes del ganxet, the hooked white bean with a thin skin and creamy middle. Far from there, use good dried cannellini or a jar of cooked white beans with no sugar or herbs in it. The jar saves time and costs the dish little, but drain and dry the beans properly or you'll get a wet pan and sad beans.
Serve it with allioli, the garlic and oil sauce, and bread. No hace falta haber pisado España. You need a proper fresh pork sausage, beans that hold their shape, and the patience not to rush the pan. Siempre sale, si lo sigues.
Botifarra amb mongetes belongs to Catalonia, especially the inland farmhouse table where fresh pork sausages and dried white beans made a filling meal from the household larder. The dish is often called botifarra amb seques, with seques meaning the cooked dry beans, and it is tied to the Catalan habit of letting one good ingredient season the next in the same pan. Mongetes del ganxet, prized around the Vallès and Maresme, became the bean most closely associated with the dish because its thin skin and creamy flesh suit the frying without collapsing.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
dried mongetes del ganxet or cannellini beans
Quantity
300g
soaked overnight
bay leaf
Quantity
1
small onion
Quantity
1
peeled and halved
fresh botifarres or plain fresh pork sausages
Quantity
4, about 450g total
extra virgin olive oil
Quantity
3 tablespoons
garlic cloves
Quantity
2
lightly crushed
flat-leaf parsley
Quantity
1 tablespoon
chopped
salt
Quantity
to taste
freshly ground black pepper
Quantity
to taste
allioli
Quantity
to serve
rustic bread
Quantity
to serve
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| dried mongetes del ganxet or cannellini beanssoaked overnight | 300g |
| bay leaf | 1 |
| small onionpeeled and halved | 1 |
| fresh botifarres or plain fresh pork sausages | 4, about 450g total |
| extra virgin olive oil | 3 tablespoons |
| garlic cloveslightly crushed | 2 |
| flat-leaf parsleychopped | 1 tablespoon |
| salt | to taste |
| freshly ground black pepper | to taste |
| allioli | to serve |
| rustic bread | to serve |
Equipment Needed
- •Heavy 28cm frying pan
- •Medium pot for beans
- •Slotted spoon
- •Clean kitchen towel or tray for drying beans
Instructions
- 1
Cook the beans
Drain the soaked beans and put them in a pot with the bay leaf and halved onion. Cover with cold water by 4cm, bring slowly to a gentle simmer, and cook until tender but still whole, about 60 to 90 minutes depending on the bean. Salt only in the last 15 minutes. Drain well, discard the onion and bay, and spread the beans on a tray for 10 minutes so their surface dries.
Using jarred beans is allowed here. Use about 700g drained cooked white beans, rinse them gently, then dry them on a towel before frying. Wet beans stew instead of taking the pan. - 2
Brown the botifarra
Set a wide frying pan over medium-low heat and add 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Add the botifarres and cook them slowly, turning often, until the skins are browned and the centers are cooked through, 16 to 20 minutes. Do not prick them unless they threaten to burst; you want their juices in the sausage first, then the rendered fat left in the pan.
- 3
Rest the sausage
Lift the botifarres onto a warm plate and let them rest while you fry the beans. Leave the browned bits and fat in the pan. That is the seasoning for the mongetes, and washing it away would be a small crime with no benefit.
- 4
Fry the beans
Add the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil to the same pan with the crushed garlic. Let the garlic color lightly, then remove it before it burns. Add the dry beans in a single broad layer, season with salt and black pepper, and fry over medium-high heat for 6 to 8 minutes, turning with a spatula only now and then. Let some beans catch a little golden crust. This is the whole point: the beans carry the sausage fat, but they must stay beans, not mash.
- 5
Finish and serve
Stir the chopped parsley through the beans, taste for salt, and spoon them onto warm plates. Set one botifarra on each portion, whole or split lengthwise if you like the browned cut face. Serve with allioli and bread for mopping the oil. Tal como se hace allí, plain and enough.
Chef Tips
- •Look for fresh Catalan botifarra blanca if you can, a plain pork sausage seasoned mainly with salt and pepper. If you cannot find it, use a good fresh pork sausage without fennel, chilli, smoke, cheese, or sweetness. Italian sausage changes the direction of the dish.
- •Mongetes del ganxet are the Catalan bean to buy when you see them. Cannellini work well far from Catalonia, but they are a little firmer and less creamy, so cook them gently and drain them before they split.
- •Allioli belongs beside the plate, not poured over everything. A little garlic bite against the sausage and beans is right. Too much and you taste only garlic, and then why did we cook the botifarra properly?
Advance Preparation
- •Soak the dried beans overnight in plenty of cold water, at least 8 hours.
- •Cook the beans up to 2 days ahead, cool them in their cooking liquid, then drain and dry them before frying.
- •Allioli can be made earlier the same day and kept covered in the refrigerator; bring it closer to room temperature before serving.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 385g)
Calories
870 calories
Total Fat
45 g
Saturated Fat
11 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
31 g
Cholesterol
95 mg
Sodium
1090 mg
Total Carbohydrates
80 g
Dietary Fiber
17 g
Sugars
5 g
Protein
38 g
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