Castilian stew and soup (Cocido madrileño)
Four servings: 1/2 k of shank; 1/2 stewing chicken; 1pig's trotter,
quartered; 1/2 k of chickpeas;1 marrow bone (4-5 inch-long); 100 g of
streaky pork in a piece; 100 g of dry-cured ham; 1 chorizo sausage; 1
black pudding sausage; 150 g of short noodles; 1 carrot; 1 cabbage; 6
medium-sized potatoes; oil, some garlic cloves, celery, paprika,
saffron, and salt.
Preparation: Keep the chickpeas soaked in water from the previous
night; a good trick is to add some baking soda in the soaking water to
improve the cooking process; this water will be eventually discarded.
Pour 1600 cc of cold water into a pressure cooker, add the shank, the
pork, the marrow bone, the cured ham, the pig's trotter, and the
stewing chicken. Let all these elements almost reach boiling point
before adding the carrot, the celery, the chickpeas, and the salt. Next,
lock the pressure cooker and let simmer for 16-18 minutes; after this
time, open the cooker, and add the potatoes, the chorizo and blood
sausages, the cabbage, cut into quarters. Lock again the cooker, let 46 minutes more; and finally open it again, sieve the liquid from the
meats, discard the marrow bone and reserve the meats, veggies,
potatoes in a warm place (a preheated oven for example), and use the
broth produced to cook the small noodles. The resulting soup will be
the first course, and the remaining elements can be arranged on a
tray from which the second course will be served. Sprinkle some
paprika (to the taste) on the stewed ingredients and also drizzle on
them some extra virgin oil (recommended)