Beans with Clams

This succulent Asturian "Beans with Clams" stew combines ingredients from both the sea and the mountains: fava beans grown in the fields, and clams from the Bay of Biscay.

Fava beans are long, flat, white, kidney-shaped beans, grown in Asturias. Their thin, delicate skin and pleasant texture have made them a high-quality product with a quality brand of their own: "Faba de Asturias." Fava beans are also a key ingredient in another traditional Asturian dish: "fabada" (bean stew).

The dried beans are left to soak overnight. They are cooked for 2 hours and then "shocked" by adding cold water to halt the cooking process. Then onion, parsley, saffron... are added.

As well as the other main ingredient of the dish: clams. "We recommend using large pullet carpet shell clams, which release water but do not become chewy," explains the Asturian chef Xune Andrade.

Some Asturian chefs recommend preparing the stewed fava beans separately from the clams marinière, and then adding both to the vegetable stew. It is an effective way of controlling the cooking of both ingredients without the stew losing its flavor.