An Asturian stew of small pale-green verdina beans cooked with shellfish — typically clams and langoustines, often with pieces of monkfish. The beans, prized for their fine, thin-skinned creaminess, are simmered apart from the seafood and combined at the end so each keeps its proper texture. A light sofrito and the shellfish liquor form the broth. It is the regional pairing of bean with sea, distinct from the meat-based fabada.
Asturias, specifically the eastern county of Llanes, where the verdina (a flageolet-type bean) is grown in small quantity around the Valle de Ardisana; its scarcity makes it the most prized and expensive of Asturian beans. By regional custom, fabes go with meat and verdinas go with seafood — locals call them fabes de marisco, 'seafood beans'. The shellfish stew is the dish that most defines them, a counterpart to inland fabada along the coast.
Small, pale jade-green beans, very thin-skinned and almost melting, in a fine pale broth carrying the sweetness of langoustine and the brine of clam. Pieces of firm white monkfish and the shellfish sit through it. The taste is delicate and clean — the bean barely there in body but creamy, the sea flavour foremost. Lighter and more refined than fabada, eaten warm as a bowl, with the broth as much the point as the solids.
Separate cooking is the rule, because beans and shellfish demand opposite times. The thin-skinned verdina is soaked overnight and simmered very gently — never a hard boil, which would burst it — until creamy. The seafood is timed in reverse: monkfish and langoustines need only a few minutes, clams open in seconds, so they are added near the end, the langoustines about half an hour before the beans finish and the clams last. A modest sofrito of onion, garlic and a little paprika seasons the broth; the shellfish liquor and the beans' light starch carry it, kept deliberately loose and clean rather than thick.
Variations
The simplest form is verdinas con almejas, beans with clams only; richer versions build in langoustines, prawns or monkfish; some add a little squid or its ink for colour and depth; a few cooks bind the broth by mashing a spoon of beans, others keep it brothy. The beans are essentially interchangeable in technique with fabes con almejas, the difference being the green verdina versus the large white fabe.
On the Palate
Where Verdinas con Marisco sits in the Spanish flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 4
How it's made
7 steps · 12 hours
- 1720 min
Soak the verdina beans in cold water overnight, at least 12 hours.
- 290 min
Purge the clams in cold salted water for 1-2 hours, then rinse.
- 3150 min
Drain the beans, cover with fresh cold water, bring to a bare simmer, skim, and cook very gently until creamy, about 2 to 2.5 hours.
Watch outKeep these beans at a bare shiver, never a rolling boil — the thin skins burst and go mealy if the water bounces, so barely-moving is what keeps them whole and creamy.
- 48 min
Sweat chopped onion and garlic in olive oil, stir in paprika off the heat, then add this sofrito to the beans.
Watch outStir the paprika in off the heat — drop it into hot oil and it scorches bitter, so pull the sofrito off the flame first.
- 530 min
About 30 minutes before the beans are done, add monkfish pieces and langoustines to a little of the broth to poach.
Watch outTime the seafood in reverse and add it near the end — monkfish and langoustines need only minutes, so poach them gently just before the beans finish or they turn rubbery.
- 66 min
Open the clams over high heat in a splash of broth, then combine seafood and beans, season with salt.
- 73 min
Simmer together briefly, scatter parsley, rest off the heat and serve in bowls.
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