Basque lunch
Dedicated to Dani and Itsasne, who brought us a basketful of Basque products for Christmas. Thanks. We shared the meal with our neighbours.
- 500g habas txiki (baby dried broad beans) left in soak for at least 12 hours with a teaspoonful of salt and 1 teaspoon bicarb
Before and after the soak!
- 2 pigs trotters, cut in half lengthwise
- 2 thick strips of “tocino entreverado” (pancetta)
- 1 whole head of garlic
- 1 leek, cut in half
- 1 carrot, whole
- 1 large white onion, cut in half
- 1 thick slice of cured ham, cut into strips
- salt
- extra virgin olive oil
- rinse off the beans, put in a big pan with the trotters, pancetta and garlic (don’t forget to leave it whole), add a splash of olive oil, cover with water
- bring to the boil, lower the heat, cover and cook for an hour
- add the leek, carrot, onion and ham
- cook for another hour, add the salt and leave to rest (I left them for a further hour)
- heat up again before serving; the beans with have soaked up a lot of the juice
serve with pipparak (green chilli peppers in vinegar)
With coffee, we had:
“tiles” and “cigarettes”: butter wafers and tile-shaped biscuits with almonds
And afterwards:
patxaran: sloe infused eau de vie
judethecook 