Asturian Fish & Faba

During a trip to the Picos Iain asked me to make up a stew to include the legendary faba bean (the MOST EXPENSIVE bean!!) and fish rather than meat. This is a great area of Spain. Go there. And eat lots and lots of wonderful food. Then come home and try this. Or just try this. And remember my recipes are descriptive not prescriptive so be flexible and inventive.

1-2 onions chopped
olive oil
2 garlic cloves chopped
2 peppers deseeded and sliced
1-2 x 4inch sprigs of fresh rosemary chopped
2-3 fresh bay leaves
tin tomatoes or 4/5 fresh chopped (deseed, peel etc if you wish)
1/2 teaspoon sweet smoked paprika
good glassful of dry white wine
100ml water or vegetable or fish stock
good pinch saffron infused in a little hot water
600g ish fish we used monkfish cut into 1-2 inch chunks
400g ish clams in shell we used Amandes
400g ish cooked faba beans or butter beans
Salt and pepper

Soften onion in the oil over a low heat for at least 15 mins until starting to caramelise, stir occasionally. Add garlic cook for a further few minutes. Add rosemary, bay leaves and peppers and cook for 10-15 mins over medium heat. Add tomatoes and paprika cook for 10 mins. Add wine, let bubble for a couple of mins. Add water/stock and saffron and its water. Check for seasoning and adjust to taste. At this point you can turn off the heat (and go do other things).

When you're ready to eat, get sauce up to a gentle bubble, add fish and clams. Cook for maybe 5 mins until fish just flaking and clams have steamed open. Don't over cook! Remove clams, stir beans through fish sauce. Serve onto plates and pile clams on top. Good with bread, salad, baked spuds, anything.

(Ed: For everything you might want to know about beans and to see what these puppies look like go to www.foodsubs.com/Beans.html )