Spanish-Style White Bean & Chorizo Stew

Ingredients

• 2 x 400g tins cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• 500 ml chicken stock
• Crusty sourdough bread, to serve
• 2 roasted red peppers from a jar, drained and sliced
• 1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes
• 150 g baby spinach
• salt and black pepper
• 2 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 large onion, finely diced
• 4 garlic cloves, finely sliced
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 300 g cooking chorizo, sliced into 1cm rounds
• 15g fresh flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped, to serve

Method

1. Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a large, wide pot over a medium-high heat. Add the chorizo slices in a single layer and cook for 3–4 minutes, turning once, until deeply bronzed and the paprika-red oil has pooled in the pan. Remove to a plate, leaving the oil behind.
2. Reduce the heat to medium. Add the diced onion and grated carrot to the chorizo oil with the remaining tablespoon of olive oil. Cook for 8–9 minutes, stirring now and then, until soft and beginning to colour at the edges. Stir in the sliced garlic, smoked paprika and dried thyme, and cook for 2 minutes until fragrant.
3. Add the sliced roasted red peppers and stir everything together. Cook for 2 minutes, then pour in the chopped tomatoes. Cook, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes until the tomatoes have reduced and darkened to a deep brick red.
4. Pour in the chicken stock and bring to a gentle boil. Tip in the cannellini beans and butter beans and stir through. Reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes to let the stew thicken and the flavours meld.
5. Return the cooked chorizo to the pot along with any resting juices and stir through. If the stew is thinner than you like, use the back of a spoon to crush some of the beans against the side of the pot for a thicker, silkier broth.
6. Add the baby spinach in two or three batches, stirring each addition until wilted before adding the next, about 2 minutes in total.
7. Taste and season carefully with salt and black pepper — the chorizo is already salty, so check before adding more. Scatter over the chopped parsley and serve with crusty bread to mop up the broth. Cool and freeze in portions for up to 3 months.