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This is how José Andrés prepares his mother’s widowed lentils

The Asturian chef shares this classic recipe with two key tricks to elevate the spoon dish.

Click here to read the Spanish version.

José Andrés wanted to share with his followers a new nostalgic recipe inspired by his own mother’s cooking. A homemade stew that she prepared for him and his three brothers in which the speciality, as the chef describes it, is ‘the special taste of home.

The first trick is to cook the legume with the whole vegetables, which are the ones he separates to mash with part of the broth, and thus add creaminess to the dish. Then fry the chopped onion separately until it caramelises, and add smoked paprika from La Vera.

Next, use dried pulses, preferably lentils, whole tomatoes, leek, onion, celery, carrot and peeled garlic in a pot with water and oil. After adding the paprika sofrito – keeping it cooking for another half an hour – peel and chop more carrots and a few potatoes.

When the vegetables are soft, take them out and mash them with some of the stock and return the purée to the pot. Finally, cook for a little longer until the dish is infused with all the flavours, adding a little sherry vinegar as a finishing touch to the stew.