A spicy, hearty stew with pork shoulder, sausage, chickpeas and onions, garlic and paprika.
Is it stew weather? I think it’s finally stew weather here at least.
This morning a thick, chilly fog bank settled on the northern central valley and didn’t lift until after 10. We actually made this stew in early summer, but it was too hot in most of the country to post it.
But it looks like the 80 degree days we’ve been having this last month are finally behind us, and now is the time for a warm, spicy, hearty stew.
This pork stew is inspired by the flavors of Spain, with chunks of pork shoulder, chickpeas, olive oil, garlic, parsley and paprika. Smoked paprika too, which adds just a touch of smokey flavor to the stew.
Spicy Pork Stew with Chickpeas and Sausage Recipe
- Prep time: 20 minutes
- Cook time: 3 hours
- Yield: Serves 10 to 12
Smoked paprika adds a lovely smokey flavor to this stew. If you don’t have any, and can’t find it anywhere, you can sub regular paprika.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 3 pounds pork shoulder, cut into 1-2 inch chunks
- Salt
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 1 large carrot, chopped
- All of the cloves from 1 head garlic, peeled and chopped
- 1 pound hot Italian sausage links (not loose) or Spanish chorizo (use gluten-free sausages for gluten-free option)
- 1 15-ounce can crushed tomatoes
- 3 1/2 cups water
- 2 tablespoons sweet paprika
- 1 teaspoon hot paprika (can sub 1/4 teaspoon red chili flakes)
- 1-2 teaspoons smoked paprika
- 2 15-ounce cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 1 bunch parsley, chopped
Method
1 Brown the pieces of pork shoulder in olive oil, sprinkle with salt: Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Working in batches to ensure that you do not crowd the pan, brown the pieces of pork shoulder.
If there is a fatty side to a chunk of pork, put that side down on the pan to help render out the fat.
Sprinkle a little salt over the pork as it cooks. Once browned, set aside to a bowl.
2 Sauté onions, carrots, garlic: Once the pork pieces have browned and have been removed from the pan, drain off all but a couple tablespoons of fat from the pan.
Add the chopped onions and carrots to the pan. Stir well and scrape up any bits from the bottom of the pot. Cook over medium-high heat until the onions start to brown.
Add the chopped garlic and cook for another minute.
3 Add browned pork, sausage, tomatoes, water, paprikas, salt, then simmer 2 hours: Add the pork, the sausage, crushed tomatoes and water, then stir to combine. Stir in the various paprikas. Add salt to taste.
Bring to a simmer and cook for at least 2 hours, or until the pork shoulder is melt-in-your mouth tender.
4 Cut up the sausage links and return to the pot, add chickpeas, parsley: Remove the sausages from the pot and cut them into chunks, then return them to the pot.
Add the chickpeas and parsley, stir well and adjust salt to taste. Cook for 5 minutes further.
Excellent served with crusty bread and red wine.
Links:
Basque Lamb Stew here on Simply Recipes
Paprika Chicken with Chickpeas here on Simply Recipes
Spanish Chilindron Stew – from Hunter Angler Gardener Cook
