Judiones - Jumbo beans

All summer I had secretly been waiting for the temperatures to drop so I could make my favourite autumn/winter dish - judiones. Judiones are these masive beans as you can see from the pictures below. I know this is not a dish everyone can make as a couple of the things are hard to come by if you don't live in Spain. It is, however, easy to substitute or leave out some of the things for a similarly delicious dish. The base is a sofrito which is a sauce made of slowly fried vegetables and tomato sauce. It is equally good for pasta, meat, chicken, etc. If you can't find judones, any kind of bean or legume would be able to take its place. Chorizos are in more and more supermarkets around the world but could be left out and you'd have a vegetarian dish. The hueso de jamon, which is a piece of bone from the Spanish cured serrano ham, could be replaced by any bone. But if you manage to get these different ingredients together, I promise you that you will have a mouth-watering, wholesome dish that will keep you warm throughout the dark days of winter. Here's what you need:

Ingredients:
500g judiones de la granja (previously soaked in water for 24 hours)
Sofrito (sauce):
3 tbsp olive oil
2 onions
2 carrots
1 large red pepper
1 celery stalk
2 cloves of garlic
1 1/2 tsp Spanish paprika
1/2 tsp hot paprika
1 tbsp flour
1 tsp fresh thyme
1 can of peeled tomatoes
1 cup of chicken stock
1 tbsp sherry
Stock for beans:
1 hueso de jamon (see text above)
3 chorizos
1 carrot
1 celery stalk
1 small onion
2 cloves
1 bayleaf
1 can of cider
boiling water
Fresh parsley

Here are the judione beans after having soaked in water for 24 hours. As you can see, they are massive. Throw away the water.

Clean and chop the vegetables for the sofrito very finely. You want tiny pieces.

Start by frying the onion in the olive oil. When they become translucent, add the rest of the veggies. Fry slowly under lid at low heat for 45-60 minutes, stirring now and then so it doesn't stick to the base.

Meanwhile, start preparing the rest of the ingredients for the stock. Cut the vegetables roughly, and part the chorizoo in 3-4 pieces.

Heat some olive oil in a pot (I'm using and pressure cooker, but any deep pot will work). Fry the veggies for a minute or two, then add the chorizo and the hueso de jamon.

Add the judione beans.

Pour over the cider.

Add the cloves and bayleaf and fill it up with boiling water until everything is covered.

Cook under lid for 45-60 minutes if you have a pressure cooker, or until the beans are tender.

Back to the sofrito. Mix the flour, paprika and thyme.

When the vegetables have sauteed slowly for 45 minutes and are completely cooked, add the spice mix. Turn up the heat and fry it for 2-3 minutes to cook the starch in the flour.

Blend the tomatoes and pour them over the vegetables.

Add the chicken stock.

And add the sherry. Leave it to simmer under lid for 30 minutes.

When the beans are done, remove the liquid and as much of the vegetableas you can along with the hueso, the bayleaf and the cloves. Don't throw the liquid away but save it for next time you cook rise. Absolutely delicious.

Pour the sofrito over the beans. Cook it together for 20 minutes.

Add some fresh parsley just before serving.

And there you have it, the dish that made me wish for winter. Enjoy!