Steps of the Spinach and Chickpeas Recipe Traditional Dish of Seville and Andalusia

• Let’s start with the two basic ingredients of this recipe: spinach and chickpeas. If you chose fresh spinach, you will need to: wash it, pat it dry, and place it in a pan with a drizzle of water and extra virgin olive oil to let it wilt and soften. If you opted for frozen spinach leaves like mine, you can simply bring water to a boil with a pinch of salt in a pot and cook them for the time indicated on the package. Then, we will transfer the spinach to a colander to let all the cooking water drain.

  The same goes for the chickpeas. If you chose chickpeas to boil, you will need to bring water to a boil first and cook them. Be sure not to overcook them, or they may become too soft and mushy. I preferred to use canned chickpeas in a glass jar, already cooked, so I only had to remove the preserving water.

  Now let’s focus on preparing the cream for this Spanish chickpeas and spinach stew. Toast the bread, preferably a few days old. We can do this in a pan or a toaster; I chose the latter and I’ll explain why. In the typical Spanish recipe, the two slices of bread should be toasted in a pan with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a garlic clove. However, I didn’t have the latter at home; I rarely keep garlic because no one likes it. So, needing to skip this step with oil and garlic, I opted to toast the bread without the pan. My advice is this: if you like garlic, have it at home, and especially if you want to adhere more strictly to this Spanish recipe, perform this step too.

  

• Then, we take the glass and the immersion blender. Break the toasted bread slices into pieces and place them inside the glass. Add the tomato with a spoon, a sprinkle of sugar, then the apple cider vinegar, a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, and a small amount of water. Then sprinkle with salt, pepper (preferably white pepper as per the traditional Sevillian recipe), cumin, coriander, and paprika, in my case sweet. Then activate the immersion blender, gradually adding the remaining water. We should obtain a thick cream, not too liquid, where all ingredients are well mixed. In short, a beautiful orange-colored and very fragrant cream.

  For the amount of cumin, coriander, and paprika, I advise starting with small amounts; you can always add more as you blend and smell the aromas. It greatly depends on your taste and palate; if you overdo it, you risk ending up like us when we ordered this tapas in Seville and it was really too full of flavors for both of us. We still think there was too much curry, which theoretically shouldn’t be used in this Spanish vegetarian dish.

• Returning to the spinach and chickpeas. Take a nice wide pan with a non-stick bottom and pour in a drizzle of olive oil. The spinach will now be well-drained but still warm, so we will pour it into the pan, creating a green bed. On top of this, add the chickpeas, also after draining them well. With a spoon or a marisa (spatula), pour the cream over the spinach and chickpeas. Mix everything using a wooden paddle and the marisa or a wooden spoon.

  Place the pan on the stove and turn on the flame, which should be medium-low and constant. Cover the pan with its lid and finally let the ingredients of our Spanish vegetarian tapas stew. Count on a cooking time of about 10 minutes; the spinach and chickpeas are fundamentally already cooked, so an extended cooking time is unnecessary.

  In the meantime, we can prepare another batch of toasted bread, with garlic and oil if you like, or simply with the toaster as we did previously. We could also opt for croutons or for friselle if we want to add an Italian touch to this dish. We could indeed serve the friselle with the spinach and chickpeas on top.

  Once our chickpea and spinach stew is ready, we are ready to enjoy this Andalusian tapas. I suggest buying Lancers wine, white or rosé as you prefer, even though it’s a typical Portuguese wine, it pairs perfectly with this dish.

  If you have the recipe for Tinto de Verano and especially if you want to share it with me, I am all ears! I fell in love with this beverage of red wine, soda, ice, and lemon which I practically only enjoyed during our stay in Seville! Typical Sevillian beverage, it pairs perfectly with all the tapas we’ve discovered and hope to continue sharing with you soon.

  I just wish you bon appétit and remind you that I await you every day here live from my kitchen with many easy, quick, and delicious recipes like this one! Bon appétit to everyone!!!