Potaje de Arvejas Canario

Potaje de arvejas is Canarian, from the islands where arvejas means peas and a potaje is proper cocina de cuchara, spoon food. It is not a heavy northern bean stew and it is not a thin vegetable soup. The peas lead, the bubango softens into the broth, and the potatoes and pumpkin give the pot its body.

The method that decides it is the majado, the mash that thickens the stew. You cook the vegetables until tender, lift out a little potato, pumpkin, and bubango, then crush them with garlic, cumin, and cilantro before stirring them back in. That is what gives the broth its soft, cloudy body without making it dull. Skip it and you have vegetables floating in water. Fine, but not this potaje.

If you are far from the islands, use a small firm courgette for bubango and frozen peas when fresh ones are not sweet. The courgette will collapse a little faster than bubango, so cut it thicker and do not bully the pot once it goes in. No hace falta haber pisado España. With good peas, a patient simmer, and the majado done properly, siempre sale, si lo sigues.

In the Margin beside this one I have written only: do not overcook the peas. They should taste green at the end, not tired. Add them late if they are frozen, earlier only if they are fresh and sturdy.