Garboanzos con acelgas

Marcella Donati, from Italy, shows how to make Garbanzos con acelgas (chickpeas with silverbeet).

Garbanzos con acelgas (chickpeas with silverbeet)

500g dried chickpeas
1kg silverbeet
1 bay leaf
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
6 cloves garlic, roughly sliced
2-3 slices stale white bread, torn up
1 tsp cumin, either seeds or ground
5 ripe tomatoes
1-2 Tbsp Spanish paprika
salt to taste

Marcella Donati

Marcella Donati may be from Italy, but she fell in love with Spain and lived with her Spanish partner Alfredo Vazquez in Granada for six years. They came to Dunedin last year as he now teaches Spanish at Otago University.

Garbanzos con acelgas (chickpeas with silverbeet). Photo by Gregor Richardson.

This recipe for garbanzos con acelgas estilo Cadiz (chickpeas with silverbeet Cadiz style) comes from his mother. It's a typical family dish, a cocido (one-pot dish) the sort you would eat every week, as it's cheap, tasty and healthy. It can be varied by adding chorizo or fish and it's also warming for winter.

Soak the dried chickpeas in plenty of water overnight or for at least 10-12 hours.

Next day, drain the chickpeas and put in a large pot with the cut up silverbeet, leaves and stems, a bayleaf, salt and plenty of water. Bring to the boil and cook for an hour to an hour and a-half until chickpeas are tender. (for faster ways of doing this, see tips below).

Meanwhile prepare the majado (mash) which will flavour the chickpeas.

Put a cup of oil in a frying pan and add the stale bread roughly torn up. Cook with the roughly sliced garlic until golden brown. Remove the bread and garlic and put in a mortar or processor, leaving the oil behind in the pan. Add the cumin seeds or powder and pound or mix until crushed.

Set aside.

Peel the tomatoes and chop roughly for the sofrito (sauce) then cook slowly in the remaining oil in the frying pan. As the tomatoes break down, stir in the paprika and continue to cook until it is thick.

When chickpeas are tender, drain and reserve the stock.

Add the tomato sofrito and the majado to the chickpeas and silver beet and stir together. Add some of the cooking stock to moisten. The dish should not be too soupy but not dry - a potaje, a soup-stew.

Reheat, and it's ready to eat.

Tips
• You can cook the chickpeas ahead or use tinned chickpeas and cook them with the silverbeet for a shorter time.
• The soaked chickpeas and silverbeet will cook in a pressure cooker in about 20 minutes.
• If tomatoes are out of season, use a can of plum tomatoes.
• Garlic is an essential element in Spanish dishes.
• Marcella recommends using mild Spanish paprika, (pimenton dulce) "the king of spices in Spain", available from specialist shops such as the Indian • Grocery or good supermarkets.
• If you like, you can add chopped chorizo to cook with the silver beet and chickpeas.
• Fish, usually cod in Spain, is sometimes included in this dish but added later in the cooking.