Chickpea and Chorizo Stew with Roasted Tomatoes
A homemade chickpea stew with a secret in the sauce: the tomatoes are roasted in the oven and blended with a handful of the chickpeas themselves. That gives the sauce body and makes it creamy without flour or cream, with the sweetness of roasted tomato and the paprika the chorizo releases as it browns. It takes about 20 minutes of hands-on work and 1 1/2 hours of cooking, plus soaking the chickpeas, which you do the night before.
Ingredients
- 400 g dried chickpeas
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 kg round tomatoes (about 6)
- 1 large onion
- 2 garlic cloves
- 2 Spanish-style chorizo sausages, paprika-spiced (about 250 g)
- Olive oil
- Salt
Method
- 1
Soak the chickpeas in plenty of cold water for 8-12 hours. Drain.
- 2
Cover them with fresh water, add the bay leaf and bring to a boil. Keep a steady but gentle boil, never a rolling one, and skim off the foam as it forms. Cook for 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours: they are done when they squash easily between your fingers but are still whole.
- 3
Meanwhile, halve the tomatoes and arrange them on a baking sheet with salt and a drizzle of olive oil. Cover with aluminum foil and roast at 200 °C for 40 minutes, until very soft.
- 4
Drain the chickpeas and save a cup of the cooking water. Blend the roasted tomatoes, skins and all, with a handful of chickpeas and a little of that water until you have a smooth sauce.
- 5
In a pot with a drizzle of oil, brown the sliced chorizo for 4-5 minutes. Remove and set aside.
- 6
In the red fat the chorizo released, cook the chopped onion until translucent. Add the chopped garlic and sauté for one more minute.
- 7
Add the sauce, the rest of the chickpeas and the chorizo. Adjust the salt and simmer over low heat for 10-15 minutes, until the sauce thickens and coats the chickpeas. If it gets too thick, loosen it with the reserved cooking water.