Potaje de Alubias facil con todo hervido (Easy Spanish Bean Stew with everything boiled))

This is another way I like to prepare beans, it is very healthy, simple, delicious and with ingredients that should be readily available to anyone. What I like about this recipe is that all the aromatic vegetables (garlic, onions, bell peppers, tomatoes) are boiled whole, and thrown in the pot with the beans, as opposed to having to chop them sautee them in the oil which is typical of a sofrito used in Cuban and Spanish cooking oftentimes for bean stews, that are then added to the beans towards the end of the cooking process. This way I just throw everything in one pot when I want to prepare a Spanish bean stew and still have good results.

The recipe I have here is completely vegetarian, but if you want this to be a complete meal with no sides and just eat it with bread or rice, you can easily boil some pork ribs, whole sausages, ham hocks, chunks of ham, chunks of beef, etc. along with the beans for protein & flavor.

After the beans are cooked I like to puree the vegetables used to cook them and then strain them into the stock (to remove any seeds, the garlic skin, etc.) that way I don't waste anything, however the pureed and strained garlic can be a little over powering for those who don't like a strong garlic taste, but to me it's delicious... the potato in the recipe is used as a thickener and gives the stew a nutty flavor so I suggest you don't omit it but it's your choice :) Anyways here's how i made it.

Ingredients:
-1 lbs of dried beans (I used pintos this recipe works good with white beans, mayocoba beans, red beans, black beans, and pretty much any bean you have on hand, just don't use it for lentils or peas in my opinion)
-1 large tomato
-1 whole onion, outer skin removed, ends removed
-1 whole head of garlic
-1 whole green or red bell pepper
-1 large potato, peeled and washed
-1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
-salt to taste
-1 teaspoon ground cumin

Directions:
(1) Rinse beans and drain, you can soak them overnight if desired.
(2) Dump all ingredients in the pot with the beans EXCEPT the salt and cumin, cover with enough water (don't drown it in water maybe like 1- 2 inches water above the beans)
(3) After 1 1/2- 3 hrs your beans should be tender (depends how old they are, if you soaked or not, etc.) but test them by pressing them, here's how it looked for me when it was tender
(4) Remove the vegetables,
and puree them in a blender with some of the bean liquid
(5) Strain them back into the pot of beans, add salt to taste, the spices, and allow to boil for 5- 10 additional minutes and your done should look like this :)
P.S. My grandmother would always fry all the aromatics chopped up in generous amounts of olive oil or lard (garlic, onions, bell peppers, tomatoes), and cut the garlic in half (only use 6-8 cloves) for black beans she would omit the tomato & rarely used potato. But I learned this way of making it from other blogs and stuff and appreciate it's simplicity :)

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 :)

Potaje de Frijoles Canarios (Mayacoba Bean Stew)

Frijol Canario translates to "Canarian bean" as in Canary Islands, but it also commonly known down here by people from Latin America as "Frijol Peruano" in engish some call it "Mayacoba beans" in English. This bean is EXTREMELY popular among the Mexican community down here in Southern California and Mexico, because it has an unsurpassed buttery and creamy texture, these beans hold their shape when cooking, but when you bite into them they are large, starchy, and creamy. The cooking liquid used to cook this bean becomes like a thick gravy when these beans are stewed it gives body to whatever it's cooked in as well. They just have a nice richness which is why they are popular and have replaced Pinto beans in some Mexican homes.

My mother LOVES this type of bean, it's her overall favorite and since the weather was cold I was craving a heavy Cuban/ Spanish bean stew, I thought "Why not make a Cuban or Spanish bean stew using these beans, my mother would love it" and so this recipe came to be. I decided to cook these delicious beans with Calabaza and potatoes typical of a Cuban bean stew, but sort of a fusion with Galician stew because I wanted to add some greens, but not collards or chard I chose Spinach. All this married with a delicious sofrito and smokey hints of paprika and cumin. Plus I had a wonderful ham bone and some ham steaks laying around :)

Ingredients:
-1 lbs./ 2 cups frijoles peruanos (Mayacoba beans)
-1 ham bone
-1 lbs. ham cut into chunks
-2 smoked sausages (preferably Spanish Sausage as in Spain)
-1/4 cup extra- virgin olive oil
-1 bell pepper minced
-1 onion minced
-6 cloves garlic finely minced
-1 can 8 oz. tomato sauce (or 3 fresh grated tomatoes or finely diced)
-1 heaping teaspoonful sweet smoked spanish paprika
-1/2 heaping teaspoonful ground cumin
-2-3 bay leaves
-1 lbs. butternut squash cut into peeled, cut into 1 inch chunks
-3 small potatoes, peeled washed, cut into 1 inch chunks
-1 lbs. spinach (cleaned well, washed several times, drained, and coarsely chopped or use frozen)

Directions:
(1) In a large (I really do mean large) wash the beans several times, pick through them to see if there are any stones, and drain well, then add ham bone and ham chunks into the pot with beans and cover with enough water to barely cover ham bone and beat (you want the beans to be covered 2-3 inches in water) bring to a boil,
cover and simmer over low until very tender (about 1 1/2- 2 hrs)
(2) In the mean time prep all your vegetables, and make a sofrito (this is what flavors most Cuban dishes) start by heating olive oil over medium high, brown your sliced sausages and set aside, to that same oil add onion and bell pepper when translucent about 5 minutes, add garlic and cook down another 2 minutes, then stir in the paprika, cumin, and bay leaves about 30 seconds, then tomato sauce, give another good stir and let it reduce to a thick paste about 10 minutes over medium heat. This base will make everything taste amazing!
(3) When beans are tender, add your sofrito to the beans
here are all my veggies prepped (the spinach was frozen, we actually bought a lot of spinach when it was on special and cleaned, blanched it and stored it in container in freezer to have it ready for whenever we needed, you may use fresh)
(4) Add your potatoes, squash and sausage to the stew, and bring to a boil then simmer about 15- 20 minutes until tender (to test for tenderness check with a fork, if you can pierce it it's good) the last 5-7 minutes add your spinach and bring to a boil. Give a good stir. Then when everything is cooked turn off heat :)
here's another snap shot. Serve with bread or rice :D
PLEASE NOTE:
*I highly suggest anyone to give this bean stew a try, if your kosher or can't eat pork products use some cubed beef meat and some beef bones to substitute the ham products. Oh and also you can use an all beef smoked sausage :)
*You can make this stew using chickpeas/ garbanzo beans, white northern beans, or lentils which was what I was going to do today, but I felt like cooking it with these creamy beans. If using lentils remember they cook quick so please adjust cooking times and such. Like for lentils I would cook them 30 minutes, then start adding everything and not let them cook longer than an hour.

Caldo Gallego a Mi Manera (Galician Stew Nathan's Way)

This is my version of "Caldo Gallego" (Galician Stew) which is a popular bean stew cooked in the Northwestern region of Spain called "Galicia" It's not the authentic stew, but it's the version that I like best (and yes I will say for me it tastes better than the authentic ha ha sorry for any fellow Spaniards who are Galician reading this lol)

What makes my version different? Mine is a bowl of steaming hot beans with shredded beef, smokey dry cured slices of Spanish chorizo, and thin sliced savory salt pork pieces married with swiss chard and spiced with the fragrance and taste of sweet smoked Spanish paprika the signature spice of Spain :) and yes I just couldn't help but make a Cuban sofrito, minus the tomato (I don't know just felt like leaving it out)

If interested in cooking the authentic traditional one check out "Pilar Lechuza's" blog post for "Pilar Lechuza's Caldo Gallego" which is very very simple, basically it's just white beans boiled with meat usually salt pork, pork ribs etc.), spanish sausage, cooked with a chunk of preserved salted pork fat (I have no idea where to buy that here) then when everything is tender you add potatoes and turnip greens then salt to taste. Nothing more nothing less, very tasty and simple.

But I this is the version I really love :) I love the shredded beef in it, and boiling the flank steak for a long time with the beans it gives it a real good taste

Ingredients:
-2 cups dried large white beans (like cannelloni)
-1 1/2-2 lbs flank steak
-1/2 of a square of salt pork (or a couple strips of bacon)

-1 smoked ham hock
-1 large dried Spanish Chorizo (cut in half, or 4 small dried ones like "El Mino")
-2 large bunches of swiss chard stems removed, washed well, and stack and roll them then cut them into strips or pieces
-1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
-1 large yellow onion finely chopped
-1 large green bell pepper finely chopped
-8 cloves of garlic finely minced
-1 tablespoon sweet smoked spanish paprika (Pimenton dulce de la Vera)
-salt to taste

Directions:
(1) In a really large pot, add your white beans, with the smoked ham hock, spanish chorizo, salt pork or bacon, and flank steak,
bring to a rolling boil uncovered and skim off any scum.
(2) Cover and allow to simmer 2 hours maybe up to 3, it depends on how fast your beans cook (time varies based on how old the beans are or where you bought them) When tender and everything your pot will look like this. The red oil that forms on the top is from the Spanish Chorizo that was heavily infused with sweet smoked spanish paprika.
(3) Start making your sofrito, heat a frying pan with extra virgin olive oil on medium high, and sautee the onions and green bell peppers until translucent, add garlic and cook until fragrant, lower heat to low stir in 1 tablespoon of sweet smoked spanish paprika, and remove from heat. Add this sautee to your pot of beans and stir.

(4) Remove all the meats and sausage from the beans, and add your potatoes and swiss chard cook an additional 20-30 minutes until potatoes are tender together with swiss chard.


(5) Meanwhile the flank steak you removed, shred it by hand or with a fork when cool enough to handle, slice the spanish chorizo, slice your salt pork, remove meat from ham hock and you can even keep the skin if you like it.
(6) When potatoes are tender, add all the cut meats back to the pot of beans, taste for salt, add some if necessary, bring to a rolling boil and turn of heat you are done :) Serve with rice or bread.
P.S.

I didn't cook this today but I was inspired to post it because I was reading one of my favorite blogs lately "Cuban in the Midwest" (seriously she posted some amazing stuff she posted some wicked good stuff this week, her version of "Potaje de Garbanzos" which I approve lol. and some "Mejillones al Ajillo" and these fried pork chops that have a type of "rosemary mojo sauce" which is like a cuban garlic citrus sauce she infused with rosemary.) all of which I will cook eventually.) anyways what inspired me to post this was her blog post titled "Posts that Never Made It" I have plenty of those, just pictures of recipes you've cooked and food you make but somehow they get lost or you forget and I remembered I had some pictures of my version of "Caldo Gallego" and so here it is today, I also posted it because "I.M." requested it, so this is for you girl :)

Cough cough please note if you have not tried sweet smoked Spanish paprika before you are truly missing out, you need to try it. And any Cuban who's NEVER had it, you are truly truly missing out, I guarantee if your Cuban this will become your favorite spice, you know how most of us love Spanish Chorizo... well the reason we love it is because it's heavily spiced with sweet smoked Spanish paprika, it's what makes Spanish Chorizo taste like Spanish chorizo, and anything you add this too will remind you of it, and give it that special taste. I know it use to be real hard to get a hold of, but lately I've seen it at Costco under the McCormick brand and some specialty stores. You can order it online from "La Tienda" as well (see the banner on top of my blog you can buy it from them, click on it and purchase lol) I however am lucky enough to have a good blogging buddy from Spain send me bags of the sweet smoked Spanish paprika straight from Spain and straight from "La Vera" region at that :)

Potaje de Frijol de Carita Con Calabaza y Col (Black Eyed Peas Stewed w/ Vegetables)

This a very simple vegetarian/ vegan friendly black eyed pea stew. I make this when I want something really filling and satisfying but somehow not harsh on the stomach if you know what I mean, like when I want a bean stew that's real hardy and can stand alone as a dish but without all the pork and sausage (which I have nothing against, honestly if you'd like you can boil some Spanish chorizo together with the beans then slice it and add it back to the pot)

For those that want a super filling, heavy, hardy black eyed pea stew with lots of yummy pork products and meat check out my post for "Potaje de Frijol de Carita"

Ingredients:
-1 lbs. black eyed peas (soaked over night, drained)
-water (enough to submerge black eyed peas 1 1/2 inches)
-1/4- 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
-1 onion finely chopped
-3 cloves garlic minced
-1 large tomato grated
-1 tablespoon sweet smoked spanish paprika (Pimenton Dulce de la Vera)
-1 lbs. calabaza cut into 1 inch cubes (carribean, banana, butternut, Hubbard, or kabucha squash work well)
-1/2 small head of savoy, nappa, or regular green cabbage, thinly sliced into small strips (this dish is best with savoy cabbage but I only had regular green cabbage on hand)
-salt to taste

Directions:
(1) Drain black eyed peas that have been soaked over night. Cover with fresh water about 1 1/2 inches, bring to a boil on high and cover to simmer until tender about 40 minutes is what it took for me.
(2) Meanwhile, heat a medium frying pan with olive oil on medium high heat, when oil is hot add onions and sautee until onions are translucent about 5-7 minutes, add garlic and sautee an additional 3 minutes until fragrant, add grated tomato and cook down 5-7 more minutes until tomato looses all it's moisture, quickly add 1 tablespoon of sweet smoked spanish paprika stir 1 minute until fragrant and remove from heat set aside.
While you were preparing the spanish "sofrito" you can prep all your vegetables, here's a picture of everything ready to just add to the pot
(3) When black eyed peas are tender, add the "sofrito" (sauteed contents), and the calabaza. Let boil about 15 minutes until squash is tender,
then add shredded cabbage and cook an additional 5 minutes.
(4) Turn off heat and enjoy :) you can serve it as a vegetable soup with any meal (though it's heavy) or eat it on it's own with rice or bread for a light lunch if you'd like a nice raw salad of tomato, cucumber, maybe avocado served over watercress or any lettuce dressed with olive oil, lime, and salt.
PLEASE NOTE:
I was inspired to make this when I saw a post in another Spanish blog called "Amarillo Azafran" her post for "Alubias Carillas Con Verdura" (black eyed peas with vegetables) I thought it was a great idea, and I was already familiar with marrying cabbage with calabaza in bean stews (my grandmother/ Tata would always do this for her signature dish "Potaje de Garbanzos" a.k.a. Garbanzo Stew)

Estofado de Lentejas Con Chorizo (Lentil and Sausage Stew)

Surfing the web I recently discovered a blog named "Las Hambres" (translates to "The Hungers") by Maria as soon as I saw this lentil stew in her blog I knew it was something I had to try, looked real comforting, simple and familiar. I grew up eating Spanish and Cuban bean stews and still do to this day so this diffidently hit home.

So anyways, yesterday I finally had the opportunity to cook this lentil stew, because there was nothing in the fridge I wanted to eat for lunch, so while the lentil stew cooked I multi-tasked, prepared some white rice, and made a salad I wrapped up everything in under 45 minutes and had a wonderful lunch & was able to also prepare a meat stew which I left simmering to be ready for dinner time so my family could eat it with the leftover white rice and salad I made for lunch (I'll blog about the meat stew sometime this month =)

So I'm blogging about it because well duh I wanna share the love with all of you and also because I prepared it somewhat differently, but it was inspired by her recipe and is very very similar. From now on when I want a simple Spaniard lentil stew with just chorizo this will be my go to way of preparing it :)

Ingredients to boil lentils with:
-2 cups (1 lbs.) dried lentils (rinsed and drained)
-water (enough to submerge lentils 2 inches in water)
-2 medium carrots, peeled cut into rounds
-1/2 onion left intact
-1/2 a small green or red bell pepper or 1/4 of a large one left intact uncut
-3 cloves garlic unpeeled and whole
-2 bay leaves
-1 teaspoon black peppercons
-2 Spanish Chorizos (I used "Chorizo de Bilbao)

Ingredients for the sofrito:
-1/4- 1/2 cup olive oil
-1/2 onion finely chopped/ minced
-3 cloves of garlic finely minced
-1 large ripe tomato grated
-1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
-1 tablespoon sweet smoked Spanish paprika
-salt to taste (I used about 2 teaspoons but it really is to taste)

Directions:
(1) Throw lentils in a pot, add carrot, onion, bell pepper, garlic, bay leaves, and black peppercorns and spanish chorizo. Bring to a boil on high heat and cover, lower heat to medium and cook until lentils are tender (about 35- 40 minutes)

(2) While lentils are simmering heat a large pan with a generous amount of olive oil on medium high heat to start your "sofrito", add the onion and cook until translucent and caramelized about 7- 10 minutes, add garlic and cook down until fragrant about 3 minutes, add grated tomato and cook until the tomato has no liquid left about an additional 10 minutes, finally add balsamic vinegar give it a good stir, and then the sweet smoked paprika stir for about 1 minute constantly so it doesn't burn and get's fragrant. Turn off and set aside.
and then the sweet smoked paprika stir for about 1 minute constantly so it doesn't burn and get's fragrant. Turn off and set aside.

(3) When lentils are tender add about 30- 35 minutes, add the sofrito mixture, stir, taste for salt and adjust it to taste and let it simmer an additional 5 minutes, turn off heat,
remove the chorizo's, take the casing off if necessary and slice it into 1/4- 1/2 inch rounds, stir it back into the stew.
(4) Serve on it's own with over white rice or in a deep bowl with bread. A salad would go nicely with it too.

Potaje de Garbanzo's Con Espinaca (Chickpea and Spinach Stew)

This is a very simple, healthy, Spanish stew, I learned to make it not from my grandmother (Tata) but from Nuria and her wonderful blog "Spanish Recipes", all the way from Barcelona, Spain.

This stew is delicious, garbanzo beans are boiled and simmered with ham bones and a whole onion for a good deal of time creating a flavorful stock from the bones, and the onion gave the stock a slight sweet taste. To make it even better a flavorful sofrito of cooked down onions, garlic, and tomato with bacon is incorporated into the stew. All this is married with Spinach in such a wonderful way.

However, I didn't follow her recipe exactly step by step but it's almost the same way, for one I used a meaty pork bone I had leftover from a large Cuban roast leg of pork I made way back, and I added 1 heaping teaspoonful of sweet smoked Spanish paprika, which I love. Besides that it's almost the same recipe and of course we all have our ways of doing things so the procedures are slightly different :)

Eating hardy Spanish stews is nothing new to me, growing up my grandmother would always make flavorful hardy bean stews, but we never had a stew with garbanzo's and green leafy spinach, the only stew we ate with greens was "Caldo Gallego" (a white bean and turnip green or Swiss chard stew typical of Galicia, Spain) but this combination of Spinach and Garbanzo's was something new to me that I was excited to try.

My family loved it, my grandmother (Tata) really appreciated it, the recipe was familiar and comforting to me yet new at the same time, and I think this stew will be one of those bean stews that will become part of my families recipes and it's here to stay :)

Ingredients for boiling chickpeas:
-1 lbs. dried chickpeas (soaked over night and drained)
-water (enough to cover chickpeas 2 inches)
-1 large ham bone or pork bone
-1 medium onion
-salt to taste

Ingredients for the rest of the dish:
-1/2 lbs. bacon cut into cubes or 1 inch pieces
-olive oil (enough to evenly coat the bottom of a pan)
-1 onion minced
-6 cloves garlic minced
-1/2 can 4 oz. tomato sauce or 3 small ripe tomatoes pureed or 1 large ripe tomato pureed
-1 teaspoonful sweet smoked Spanish paprika (optional)
-2 bunches of spinach (coarsely chopped, washed well, and drained)

Directions:
(1) Soak garbanzos over night in cold water, then drain then next day and drain. Another method you can use is bring to a boil with water 3 minutes, then soak for 2-4 hours, drain and they are ready to use.

(2) Now that garbanzos are ready add enough water to submerge them 2-3 inches, the ham or pork bone, and 1 whole onion, and if desired a little salt. Bring to a boil on high heat, then cover and lower heat to medium low to low. It can take anywhere from 1 1/2 hours to 3 hours it all depends on how old your garbanzos are.

(3) Meanwhile, heat olive oil on medium high heat, add cut bacon and cook until it renders fat,

then minced onion 5-7 minutes, saute until translucent, then add minced garlic cook until fragrant about 2-3 minutes,

add the teaspoonful of sweet smoked Spanish paprika if using, stir 30 seconds

and add tomato sauce. Let the tomato sauce cook down a bit into a oily paste about 5 minutes. Turn off heat. Set aside.

(4) When beans are tender, remove the ham bone, remove any meat from the bone if any

and add it back to the stew, and discard the onion (if you like the onion, and don't want to throw it out, you can julienne it into thick strips and throw it back in the stew). Stir in the flavorful "sofrito" (sauteed onion, garlic, tomato you cooked down with bacon)

stir it in

(5) Add cleaned chopped spinach, and let it cook an additional 5 minutes.
(6) Serve with some bread or rice or alone.
PLEASE NOTE:
-Do not be tempted to use canned garbanzo beans, it will NOT I repeat will NOT be the same for this dish, this is a very simple dish, using little ingredients and really no spices I just felt like adding sweet smoked Spanish paprika because I love the flavor, so it's important you make a flavorful base by allowing uncooked garbanzos to boil a long time with pork bones making a very flavorful base. If you must used canned I recommend letting the bones boil at least 2-3 hours and prepare the dish as recipe instructs except add the garbanzos towards the end. BUT honestly if your going to take the time to boil the pork bones 2-3 hours then you should just boil it together with the garbanzo's :)

For those looking for a quick fix look elsewhere you can check out my quick "Guiso de Garbanzo Con Chorizo" (Chickpea, Sausage, and Pork Pot) or Nuria's short cut recipe for "Garbanzos Con Espinaca" in which she sautee's chickpeas with blood sausage, pine nuts, and spinach :)