Andorra is this tiny little country between France and Spain.
I'd never heard of it.
It's only 181 square miles, nestled square in the Pyrenees Mountains.
The Principality of the Valley of Andorra....
Sounds like it's made of fairies.
Insight time.... I had no idea that Spain and France.. You know.. touched.
They speak Catalan, mostly, and eat a mix of Spanish, French, and Catalan foods.
Catalan foods? Ehhh... I don't know anything about it.
From what I understand, they eat a lot of grilled meats, snails, lake trout,and a pan fried potato and cabbage dish called trinxat.
I really wanted to make that.. But.. Again with the work.
And the stew that we decided on, Escudella, seemed like it was PLENTY.
And it was.
I bought some French triple cream brie, and because I couldn't find any Spanish Manchego cheese where I was, I opted for some Italian espresso something or other.
Whatever. I wanted some cheese to tide me over while we cooked.
We started by taking some Italian sausage, rolling it into balls(snickercoughsnicker), and browning it in a pan.
We wrapped these beef marrow bones in cheesecloth.
All the while, bringing some vegetable stock to a boil.
We added a smoked ham bone, the meatballs, three raw chicken breasts(cut into pieces), and some chopped ham to the broth.
We let that simmer for an hour.
Then we removed the ham bone, and marrow bones.
We added cabbage, arborio rice, white northern beans I had soaked overnight, cubed potato, garbonzo beans, and shell noodles to the meaty stuff.
We cooked that for another half an hour.
I actually added more water to the pot, as it had boiled down dramatically.
The end result was pretty good.
Hearty.
I liked that.
I wished, maybe, that I had made the meatballs, and chicken smaller. More uniform.
Next time I make a stew, I'll be sure to be conscious of that.
We added a bunch of fresh chopped curly parsley right before serving.
We ate it with the traditional "smear your tomato and garlic on some bread" thing the Andorrans do.
I really liked it.
The tomato squish really made the bread kind of bright, and fresh.
I wish I would have picked a tomato with more squash, and less firm.
But the bread I picked out was kind of the best.
A peasant boule(I AM SUCH A FAN OF BOULES) from a regular old grocery store.
Perfect.
A good time was had by all.
RECIPE
Escudella
2 beef marrow bones
1 lb Italian sausage
1 ham steak, cubed
1 ham bone(smoked)
1 lb Northern white beans (rinsed, soaked overnight, and rinsed again)
1/2 cup garbonzo beans (soaked and rinsed)
1 large russet potato, cubed(skin on)
1/2 head green cabbage
1/4 cup arborio rice
1 cup pasta shells (small)
salt and pepper to taste
1 bunch parsley
Bread
Tomatos
Garlic, peeled, and smashed
(to rub alllll up on that bread, girl)
