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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Fabes con Centollo
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Fabes con centollo is coastal Asturias in a pot: fat white beans, a clean shellfish broth, and sweet spider crab folded in at the end so it stays tender.
Soups & Stews
Spanish
Special Occasion
Celebration
One Pot
35 min
Active Time
2 hr 45 min cook•15 hr 20 min total
Yield6 servings
Fabes con centollo is Asturian, from the coast where the bean pot meets the Cantabrian Sea. It is not fabada with pork swapped out. The dish wants fat fabes de la granja, a clean broth made from the crab shell, and the picked centollo folded through at the finish so its sweetness scents the whole pot.
The method that decides it is the bean simmer. Start the soaked fabes in cold water and keep them at the barest tremble, never a hard boil. A boiling pot breaks the skins and muddies the broth; a patient pot gives you whole beans with creamy insides. Pésalo, no lo adivines. Weigh the beans and the crab, and the dish stops being mysterious.
If centollo is impossible where you are, use one large cooked brown crab or Dungeness crab, with the shell and any coral if you can get it. The flavor will be a little sweeter and less briny, but it will still be an honest seafood bean stew. No hace falta haber pisado España. Keep the crab meat for the end, let the shells do the hard work, and siempre sale, si lo sigues.
Fabes with seafood belong to Asturias' coastal cooking, where the same prized bean used inland with compango is paired with shellfish from the Cantabrian shore. The best-known version is fabes con almejas, but crab versions appear for feast days and family celebrations, when centollo brings both meat and coral to the pot. The dish shows the Asturian habit of treating beans as a serious main course, whether the flavor comes from the matanza inland or from the shellfish markets on the coast.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
dried fabes de la granja or large dried white beans
Quantity
500g
soaked overnight
cooked centollo, spider crab
Quantity
1 large, about 1.2kg
water
Quantity
1.5 liters
bay leaf
Quantity
1
leek, white part only
Quantity
1
halved
small onion
Quantity
1
peeled and halved
carrot
Quantity
1
peeled and halved
extra virgin olive oil
Quantity
80ml
medium onion
Quantity
1
finely chopped
small leek, white part only
Quantity
1
finely chopped
garlic cloves
Quantity
3
finely chopped
ripe tomato
Quantity
150g
grated
sweet pimenton de la Vera
Quantity
1 teaspoon
dry white wine or Asturian sidra natural
Quantity
100ml
saffron threads (optional)
Quantity
1 small pinch
salt
Quantity
to taste
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| dried fabes de la granja or large dried white beanssoaked overnight | 500g |
| cooked centollo, spider crab | 1 large, about 1.2kg |
| water | 1.5 liters |
| bay leaf | 1 |
| leek, white part onlyhalved | 1 |
| small onionpeeled and halved | 1 |
| carrotpeeled and halved | 1 |
| extra virgin olive oil | 80ml |
| medium onionfinely chopped | 1 |
| small leek, white part onlyfinely chopped | 1 |
| garlic clovesfinely chopped | 3 |
| ripe tomatograted | 150g |
| sweet pimenton de la Vera | 1 teaspoon |
| dry white wine or Asturian sidra natural | 100ml |
| saffron threads (optional) | 1 small pinch |
| salt | to taste |
Equipment Needed
- •Wide heavy pot or olla, 5 to 6 liters
- •Fine sieve
- •Crab pick or small skewer
- •Heavy frying pan for the sofrito
Instructions
- 1
Soak the fabes
The night before, put the fabes in a large bowl and cover them with plenty of cold water. They swell more than you expect, so give them room. In the morning, drain them gently and discard any split beans.
- 2
Pick the crab
Open the cooked centollo and pick the white meat from the body and legs. Keep the coral and brown meat separately if you have them, and save every shell. Cover the picked meat and refrigerate it; crab meat turns tough if it boils, so it waits until the end.
If using brown crab or Dungeness crab, do the same. The shell is what gives the broth its depth, and the meat is the last thing into the pot. - 3
Make crab broth
Put the crab shells in a pot with 1.5 liters water, the bay leaf, halved leek, halved onion, and carrot. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for 30 minutes, pressing the shells now and then. Strain through a fine sieve and keep the broth warm. Do not salt it yet; crab varies, and the beans will tell you later.
- 4
Start the beans
Put the drained fabes in a wide heavy pot and cover them with the warm crab broth by about 3cm. Bring them up slowly over medium-low heat. When foam rises, skim it off, then lower the heat until the surface barely trembles. This is the step that decides the dish: a hard boil breaks fabes, but a low tremble keeps them whole and creamy.
- 5
Cook the sofrito
While the beans begin to cook, warm the olive oil in a frying pan and add the chopped onion and leek with a small pinch of salt. Cook low and slow for 20 to 25 minutes, until soft, dark gold, and jammy. Add the garlic for 2 minutes, then the grated tomato, and cook until the water is gone and the oil shows at the edges. That slow sofrito, the onion base, is where the sweetness comes from.
- 6
Season the pot
Stir the pimenton into the sofrito off the heat so it smells sweet and does not scorch. Add the wine or sidra, return to the heat, and let it reduce by half. Stir in the saffron, then scrape the sofrito into the beans. Do not stir hard. Shake the pot by its handles so the beans settle without breaking.
- 7
Simmer until creamy
Cook the fabes at that same bare tremble until tender, usually 2 to 2 1/2 hours from the first simmer, depending on the age of the beans. If the liquid drops below the beans, add a small splash of hot water. Salt only when the beans are nearly tender, then taste again after 10 minutes.
- 8
Fold in crab
When the fabes are tender and the broth is silky, stir the reserved coral and brown meat into a ladleful of broth, then return it to the pot. Add the picked white crab meat and shake the pot gently. Cook 3 to 4 minutes only, just enough to warm the crab through. Take the pot off the heat and rest it 10 minutes before serving.
Chef Tips
- •Buy the best crab you can. A heavy centollo for its size means more meat and better coral; a tired, watery crab gives you a thin pot no matter how careful you are.
- •If you cannot find fabes de la granja, use a large dried white bean such as judion, corona, or good cannellini. The texture will be less buttery, but an overnight soak and a slow simmer still get you a proper spoon dish.
- •Do not use fish stock from a carton here. It pushes the dish toward generic seafood soup. The shell broth tastes of the centollo itself, and that is the point.
- •Serve with Asturian sidra natural if you can find it, poured simply, or a dry white from Galicia. Bread on the table is not decoration; you will want it for the broth.
Advance Preparation
- •Soak the fabes 12 to 14 hours ahead in plenty of cold water.
- •The crab can be picked and the shell broth made one day ahead; keep both covered in the refrigerator.
- •The beans can be cooked through before guests arrive, then finished with the crab just before serving. Do not leave the crab meat simmering in the pot.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 410g)
Calories
480 calories
Total Fat
14 g
Saturated Fat
2 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
12 g
Cholesterol
50 mg
Sodium
980 mg
Total Carbohydrates
59 g
Dietary Fiber
14 g
Sugars
5 g
Protein
30 g
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