Chef Isabel
Aguaillo de la Sierra de Cadiz
Aguaillo is from the Sierra de Cadiz: cold water, stale bread, garlic, oil and vinegar, closer to a field drink than a bowl of soup, and sharp enough to wake you in the heat.
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Espinacas con Garbanzos
Created by
Sevilla's espinacas con garbanzos keeps chickpeas and spinach thick, dark, and spoonable, with a majado of fried bread, garlic, cumin, pimentón, and sherry vinegar doing the real work.
Soups & Stews
Spanish
Budget Friendly
Comfort Food
Make Ahead
15 min
Active Time
30 min cook•45 min total
Yield4 servings as a main, 6 as a tapa
Espinacas con garbanzos is Sevillian and Andaluz, the chickpea and spinach dish you meet in a bar as a tapa and at home as a small stew. What makes it itself is the majado: fried bread, garlic, cumin, pimentón, and vinegar pounded into a paste so the greens and chickpeas bind thickly instead of swimming. No cod. That belongs to a different Lenten potaje.
The step that decides it is the bread and garlic. Fry them gently in olive oil until the bread is deep gold and the garlic smells sweet, then pound them with cumin, pimentón, vinagre de Jerez, and a little chickpea liquid. That paste is the body of the dish. Rush it, or leave it coarse and dry, and you get chickpeas on spinach instead of espinacas con garbanzos.
No hace falta haber pisado España. Cooked chickpeas from a good jar or can are fine here, because this dish has always welcomed the chickpeas already in the pot; they won't be as buttery as chickpeas you soaked and simmered yourself, so give them ten minutes with a bay leaf and save the liquid. Fresh mature spinach is best, but frozen leaf spinach works honestly if you thaw it and squeeze out the extra water. The Margin beside this one says, "thick enough for bread." Siempre sale, si lo sigues.
Espinacas con garbanzos belongs especially to Sevilla and western Andalucía, where chickpeas, spinach, cumin, garlic, fried bread, and vinegar show the long inheritance of Andalusí cooking inside the later Christian fasting table. It is served in tabernas as a tapa and at home during Cuaresma and Semana Santa because it gives the body of a stew without meat, and in this Sevillian version without bacalao. The majado, fried bread and garlic pounded with cumin and vinegar, is the old thickener that makes the dish cling to the chickpeas instead of falling into soup.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
cooked chickpeas
Quantity
500g
drained, liquid reserved if from a jar
chickpea cooking liquid or water
Quantity
250ml
bay leaf
Quantity
1
fresh mature spinach, or frozen leaf spinach
Quantity
500g fresh or 450g frozen
washed and stemmed, or thawed and squeezed
extra virgin olive oil
Quantity
70ml
day-old rustic bread
Quantity
45g
torn into 2cm pieces
garlic cloves
Quantity
4
peeled and halved
ground cumin
Quantity
1 1/2 teaspoons
sweet pimentón de la Vera
Quantity
1 teaspoon
hot pimentón or cayenne (optional)
Quantity
1/4 teaspoon
vinagre de Jerez (sherry vinegar)
Quantity
30ml, plus more to taste
fine sea salt
Quantity
1 teaspoon, plus more to taste
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| cooked chickpeasdrained, liquid reserved if from a jar | 500g |
| chickpea cooking liquid or water | 250ml |
| bay leaf | 1 |
| fresh mature spinach, or frozen leaf spinachwashed and stemmed, or thawed and squeezed | 500g fresh or 450g frozen |
| extra virgin olive oil | 70ml |
| day-old rustic breadtorn into 2cm pieces | 45g |
| garlic clovespeeled and halved | 4 |
| ground cumin | 1 1/2 teaspoons |
| sweet pimentón de la Vera | 1 teaspoon |
| hot pimentón or cayenne (optional) | 1/4 teaspoon |
| vinagre de Jerez (sherry vinegar) | 30ml, plus more to taste |
| fine sea salt | 1 teaspoon, plus more to taste |
Equipment Needed
- •Wide heavy sauté pan or shallow cazuela, about 28cm
- •Mortar and pestle
- •Colander or sieve
- •Slotted spoon
Instructions
- 1
Warm the chickpeas
Put the cooked chickpeas in a small pot with the bay leaf and 250ml chickpea cooking liquid or water. Simmer gently for 10 minutes, then reserve 180ml of the liquid, discard the bay leaf, and set the chickpeas aside. Jarred chickpeas have better body; canned ones are still fine, but this short simmer wakes them up and softens the edges.
If you cooked dried chickpeas yourself, use their cooking liquid here. If the can liquid tastes tinny, rinse the chickpeas and use water. - 2
Wilt the spinach
Put the fresh spinach in a wide pan with just the water clinging to its leaves and a pinch of salt. Cover and cook over medium heat for 2 to 4 minutes, turning once or twice, until collapsed. Drain well, press out the extra water, and chop roughly. If using frozen leaf spinach, thaw it fully and squeeze it until damp but not bone dry.
- 3
Fry bread and garlic
Wipe the wide pan dry and add the olive oil. Fry the bread and garlic over medium heat until the bread is deep gold and the garlic is pale gold and sweet-smelling, 3 to 5 minutes. Lift both into a mortar with a slotted spoon and take the pan off the heat. Do not let the garlic brown hard, or it will make the whole dish bitter.
- 4
Pound the majado
Add the cumin, sweet pimentón, hot pimentón if using, and salt to the mortar. Pound everything to a thick paste, then work in the sherry vinegar and 100ml of the reserved chickpea liquid. This is the majado, the fried bread and garlic paste that binds the dish; make it smooth enough to melt into the pan, not so dry that it sits in lumps.
No mortar? Pulse the bread, garlic, spices, vinegar, and liquid in a small food processor. Leave a little texture, but don't leave whole chunks of bread. - 5
Bind the stew
Return the pan with its oil to medium-low heat. Add the chickpeas and spinach and turn them through the oil for 2 minutes. Stir in the majado and another 80ml of reserved chickpea liquid, then simmer 8 to 10 minutes, stirring and crushing a spoonful of chickpeas against the side of the pan, until the sauce is thick, glossy, and clinging to everything. Add extra liquid only a tablespoon at a time. This should not be soup.
- 6
Rest and serve
Take the pan off the heat and let it rest for 5 minutes. Taste for salt and vinegar; the final spoonful should be earthy from cumin, smoky from pimentón, and bright at the end from the sherry vinegar. Serve warm in shallow bowls or straight from a cazuela, with bread for pushing and mopping. Tal como se hace allí.
Chef Tips
- •If you have time, cook 250g dried chickpeas instead of using jars or cans. Soak them overnight, simmer with a bay leaf until tender, and salt near the end. The texture will be creamier and the cooking liquid will give the sauce more body.
- •Use mature spinach when you can. Baby spinach works if that is all the market gives you, but use 600g because it collapses to almost nothing and has less bite. Frozen leaf spinach is a proper home-kitchen substitute; thaw it, squeeze it, and accept that the dish will be darker and softer.
- •Pimentón burns fast. Keep it in the mortar with the bread and garlic, or stir it into warm oil off the heat if you must. Scorched pimentón tastes bitter, and no amount of vinegar fixes it.
- •This is better after a rest. Make it a few hours ahead, or the day before, and reheat it gently with a spoonful of water. It should loosen, then thicken again as the bread paste wakes up.
- •For the table, give it bread and a glass of fino or manzanilla if you drink wine. The dry edge of the wine is right with the cumin and vinegar.
Advance Preparation
- •Cook dried chickpeas up to 3 days ahead and keep them refrigerated in their cooking liquid. Use 500g cooked chickpeas for the recipe and save the liquid for the majado.
- •The finished dish keeps 3 days covered in the refrigerator. Reheat gently in a pan with 1 to 2 tablespoons water, stirring until thick and glossy again.
- •You can wilt and squeeze the spinach 1 day ahead. Keep it covered in the refrigerator, then chop it just before cooking so it doesn't lose more water.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 315g)
Calories
430 calories
Total Fat
23 g
Saturated Fat
3 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
19 g
Cholesterol
0 mg
Sodium
760 mg
Total Carbohydrates
44 g
Dietary Fiber
13 g
Sugars
5 g
Protein
15 g
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