Lentil stew (guiso de lentejas)

The lentil stew, in its countless variants, is a very popular dish both in Spain and in (almost) all Latin America. It is one of the so-called “spoon dishes” par excellence, and it is as tasty as comforting, especially in the winter months.

Lentils of any type do not require prior soaking like other legumes. However, it’s a good idea to rinse them before adding them to the stew. In the case of brown lentils, the cooking time will be approximately 40-45 minutes, which is important to consider to be able to add each ingredient at the appropriate time.

To get a very creamy texture, we will not start with the typical stir-fry or “sofrito”. Boil in a pot 1 onion, 1 carrot, 1 or 2 stalks of celery (without the leaves), some cloves of garlic according to preference and a bay leaf. Do not cut the vegetables, or at most cut them only in half, since we will later recover them for processing. Add the lentils, as well as the ham or beef bones, if we have chosen to use them. Season with pepper, optionally a little cumin, and only a little of salt and paprika, since these two spices will also later be provided by the chorizos. Bring to a boil, then continue over low heat and after 20 minutes, recover the vegetables and blend them separately with a little broth.

Wash and cut the carrots and potatoes, and then add them to the broth along with the crushed vegetables. The stew will be ready approx. after another 25 minutes of boiling over low heat.

Meanwhile, remove the skin from the chorizos and boil them separately for 20-30 minutes. Then cut them into bite-size pieces and add them to the stew at the end of cooking. Adjust the salt, remove the bones if we have chosen to add them and serve. If you wish, you can add a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil to the dish as a final touch.

Tips and tricks:

1. Red chorizo ​​is the most common accompaniment for lentils, but of course it’s possible to add pork and/or beef. However, we must consider that most cuts for soup or stew need around two hours of cooking.
2. To add more flavor to the stew, you can use meat or chicken broth instead of water.
3. The final creaminess obviously not only depends on the processed vegetables, but also on the amount of water or broth we use. The ideal amount would be about 4 parts of broth or water for each part of lentils.
4. Another trick to bind and thicken the broth a little more is to “snap” the potato, that is, piercing it with the knife all the way to the inside and then pressing until it breaks. This causes the potato to release more starch during cooking.
5. The chorizos are cooked separately because they lose a lot of fat when boiled, which would make the broth much heavier.