Express chickpea, artichoke and cod stew

There are days when you feel like a tasty stew but you don’t have time to start some vegetables from scratch, others when you have guests for lunch and you prefer to spend time with them drinking vermouth than in the kitchen; and others in which you want to discover new uses for things that you usually eat as they are, such as artichokes in oil. Today’s recipe is suitable for all these assumptions and some more, it is very good with little effort and it will not twist the nose of all those who believe that it is too much work to eat fish if it has a bone (and I am not just referring to children, I know more than one and one who have been eating bread with the crust since 1986 and continue with the same “mimimí”).

If the cocochas -o kokotxas, in Basque- they are desalted, be careful with the point of salt, since this does not have a universal consensus or anything like it (especially if you buy desalted codfish). I recommend trying a tip to find out how seasoned they are -technically you’re not eating raw fish, the salt has already cooked it previously- to know if it’s good or too much. If it is a bit excessive, you can compensate by adding less salt -or none- to the rest of the stew; if you think that not even with those, leave them for a few hours in plenty of cold water in the fridge.

Artichokes in oil are a product that I love for several reasons: the first and most obvious, because I love artichokes; the second because within their canned versions they are usually those that have less citric acid and therefore respect the flavor of this vegetable more and third because sometimes they have herbs that also enhance it for good. Eating them directly from the jar -or transferring them to a plate first if you’re not about to romanize them- is a very satisfying option, but you can also take advantage of them in sandwiches, toast, salads, pasta dishes or stews, like the one we propose today .

Don’t be shy about using the canning liquid that the chickpeas come in: basically it contains its cooking water -with the protein left during cooking, something very interesting to quickly achieve a bound texture in a quick stew-, salt, an additive that serves so that they do not darken and although it has the name “kidnapper” it is completely safe and some eventual preservative (just as safe). None of this adds any flavor to the chickpea water, so you shouldn’t notice its presence (which is the case with the equally innocuous but somewhat more detectable citric acid).

The amount of liquid in this stew is completely up to the taste of whoever is going to drink it; and this, in my case, depends a lot on the temperature. As the day I prepared it was still quite hot, I did not do it in floating mode, but rather the liquid is thick and remains below the level of the legume. To make it more soupy you can add a little water at any time -it’s very tasty, don’t be too prepubescent because it loses a bit of strength- or more wine at the beginning. Do not put wine at any time because the risk that the alcohol does not evaporate and is not tasty is high (or that you have to wait for it to do so and you lose the cocochas, something we don’t want either).

Difficulty

Cutting and mincing the onion is the most difficult.

Ingredients

For 4-6 people

• 1 onion
• 2+1 cloves of garlic
• 1 kg of cooked chickpeas (net weight) with its conservation liquid
• 150 ml dry white wine
• 500 g clean cocochas (can be defrosted or desalted)
• A jar or tray of artichokes in olive oil (about 250 g net weight)
• A teaspoon of Herbes de Provence (if the artichokes do not have herbs)
• A little chilli or chilli (optional)
• Salt
• Pepper
• 8 toasted almonds or hazelnuts
• a few sprigs of parsley

Preparation

1. If the shells are not clean, trim the excess skin on the sides with kitchen shears. Dry with a clean cloth without hair or kitchen paper and, if necessary, salt the meat side. Put pepper on both sides.
2. Put a little of the oil from the artichokes in a saucepan over medium heat -if there are herbs, it is better to take it from the top so that they do not burn- and fry the peeled and chopped onion over medium heat for a couple of minutes.
3. Add the peeled and minced or laminated garlic, lower the heat a little and cook together with the onion for three or four minutes, or until it is golden and smells good.
4. Add the cocochas and turn three minutes. Add the wine and cook for five minutes over low heat.
5. Meanwhile, prepare the picada with the nuts, the remaining garlic clove and parsley to taste.
6. After five minutes, add the artichokes, the chickpeas with their conservation liquid, the chili if used and the herbs (if they are from the artichokes, take them carefully so that they do not add too much oil to the stew). Let everything cook for another five minutes over low heat.
7. Add the minced meat, stir well and cook everything together for three more minutes (if the cocochas are very large, you can extend it for a couple of minutes, and add a splash of water if there is no liquid).
8. Serve with more pepper and a little chopped parsley on top.

If you make this recipe, share the result on your social networks with the hashtag #RecipesComidista. And if it goes wrong, complain to the Cook Ombudsman by sending an email to [email protected].