Sunday, February 5, 2012

Potaje de Garbanzos Con Camarones (Garbanzo and Shrimp Stew)

If you've read this blog before you know I love all sorts of legumes, I love them cooked on their own, stewed with meat, with other vegetables, etc. However I have never had them cooked with seafood but saw in many other Spanish blogs that a lot of Spaniards combined garbanzo beans as well as white beans with seafood (such as with salted cod, shrimp, clams, squid, etc.)

I saw it as very odd since I never grew up eating that combination of ingredients (grew up eating lots of Spanish and Cuban bean stews but never with seafood usually with just pork, beef and sausage though some Cubans make the Garbanzos with salted cod for lent)

Well one day I bumped into a recipe that appealed to me at a blog called "Los Tragaldabas" that recipe combined Garbanzos with Shrimp cooked in a machine called "thermomix" which I'm not familiar with, anywho I looked over the recipe and adapted it a little bit to my style and using my regular pots and pans as opposed
to machine known as "thermomix"... and let me tell you I'm glad I made it, it was a hit in my house, it's lighter than the typical bean stews I make at home with pork and beef, a good alternative when you want something lighter than the previously mentioned, healthy, low in fat, high in fiber, satisfying and of course really warm and comforting in this weather :) Give it a try you'll be pleasantly surprised. I know I was.


Ingredients:

-1/2 lbs. dried garbanzo beans (washed well, drained, then soaked overnight in water)
-1 1/2 lbs. shrimp (cleaned, de-veined, and shells removed, reserve shell to make shrimp stock)
-extra-virgin olive oil
-1/2 a large onion finely chopped
-1/2 a large bell pepper finely chopped (any color or a mix of red and green)
-3 cloves garlic finely minced
-2 fresh ripe tomatoes finely chopped (tomato sauce will work here too if you don't have fresh tomatoes)
-salt to taste
-1 bay leaves
-1/2 tsp saffron ground up, or "Colorante"/ "Bijol" or achiote to give it a golden tinge (optional)

Before you put everything together directions
(1) Start off by draining garbanzos you soaked over night, and bringing to a boil in new water, once boiling lower heat to medium low, cover for about 1 1/2- 2 hours until as tender as you like. Turn off heat and reserve.

(2) Now when peeling the shrimp this is completely optional but I will get the thick red liquid from it's head, and reserve it in a bowl, I fry this in the oil with the aromatics it gives it a good seafood flavor but you can skip this if it freaks you out. If you don't mind harvest that red orange liquid and set aside and reserve
(3) Use the reserved shrimp shells to make a stock, by covering the shells with water, bringing to a boil with 1 bay leaf for 10- 15 minutes, skimming off any impurities on top, strain the stock and reserve to make the rest of the dish.

Directions for putting everything together:
(1) Heat a large deep pan with extra-virgin olive oil and sautee onions, bell pepper, and garlic until fragrant 5- 8 minutes over medium high heat. Add the red orangish shrimp thing
Add chopped tomato and sautee another 5 minutes.
(2) Add drained cooked garbanzo beans, shrimp stock (enough shrimp stock to barely cover the garbanzos, salt to taste, saffron or bijol or other coloring (optional) bring to a strong boil, and let simmer about 5 minutes.

(3) After boiling 5 minutes add peeled cleaned shrimp, stir well, when shrimp change color to pink turn off heat.
(4) Garnish with parsley or cilantro if you'd like :) I served it over white rice with a salad. You can serve it in a deep bowl as well with bread and a salad if you don't want to eat rice.

PLEASE NOTE:
(1) I made this dish from scratch, BUT if you feel it's too much hassle to prep the shrimp, making the shrimp stock, and cooking the garbanzos from scratch you can use 2 8 oz. cans of garbanzo beans drained, water in place of the shrimp stock but add a cube of shrimp bouillon or fish bouillon powder, and buy the shrimp already peeled.

(2) I didn't use any spices with this dish because I wanted to have a fairly clean taste, but my mother told me to add either 1/2 a teaspoon of ground cumin or 1/2 teaspoon sweet smoked Spanish paprika for her taste because she said it needed a little something extra. Oregano would be good too. Next time I'll probably do that :)

11 comments:

Lady said...

esta receta se ve riquisima definitivamente la voy a preparar ya te dejare saber; habia dejado una nota del rabo encendido y te dejo saber que me salio riquisimo el olor era tremendo y el sabor ni se diga lo servi con arroz blanco, el rabo encendido ->muy facil de hacer y el resultado es delicioso.

Nathan said...

Abby,
Hola gracias por la visita :) dejame saber que tal te sale este guiso de garbanzos con camarones :) Y me alegra que te gusto la receta de el rabo encendido

Saludos :)

Mamey said...

Sounds delish! Yeah, in Cuba my family made garbanzos con bacalao often (I've had it in Spain and Portugal also).The other day a woman from Nayarit, Mexico gave me pozole cooked with shrimp...never had it before...it was quite tasty!

Nathan said...

Mamey,
Yum I <3 Pozole soooo much in all it's varieties Pozole verde, rojo, o blanco the stock when made right is soooo rich and nourishing I <3 it. Yesterday me and my mom prepared a Pozole blanco (I'll have to post it soon I took pictures and stuff)

I've never had Pozole de Camaron, but I've heard of it, and it's been on my mom's menu plan for a loooong time we have a recipe that sounds pretty good that came from a woman in Nayarit too (must be a regional thing each area in Mexico has it's own style/ recipe for that type of stuff, like Guadalajara is Pozole blanco, Guerrero is Pozole Verde, Michoacan and other places like Pozole Rojo, etc. some people prefer to make it with chicken instead of pork in some of those variations too.

Btw I wanna give a try to large white beans with clams I've seen those alot but have never tried it out

Mamey said...

The shrimp pozole I had was red. I've made 'judias con almejas' but with the added flavor of chorizo from the Basque country of Spain and plenty of...what else...onions, peppers, garlic, and olive oil.

Great that you're posting again!

Nathan said...

Mamey,
Thanks I'm going to try to post more often this year, I have jus fallen sooo behind because well school, and the holiday season I just pretty much over-indulged in everything and spent my entire break/ time sleeping, pigging out on food, drinking & dancing so didn't really blog though I wish I did, and now well I'm back in class. But yeah I'm going to try to post atleast once or twice a month. That's my goal :)

Nathan said...

btw the Judias Con Almejas sounds good too, I'm gonna have to make all that sometime :) the Basque chorizo sounds bomb too

Núria said...

Absolutely delicioso Nathan! I love this dish :D
You are the king of the legumes ;D

Nathan said...

Hola Nuria :D
Como te extran~o! haha y si soy tambien amante de las legumbres jaja. Gracias por la visita y saludos :)

Núria said...

Nathan, I forgot to say: if you add the head's esence at the end of the dish (last step) and you only shake the pan for seconds so that it gets done only a bit, the dish will have more sea flavour in it.
It's a trick you can use in other dishes too like paella or fideuá... bla.
Thanks for the comment in my blog too :D
I think I have the blogging fever back ;D

Nathan said...

Nuria,
Muchas gracias por trick, la proxima ves lo voy a ententar :)