Frijoles Blanco with Chorizo & Black Pudding

 I was advised the other day by a chef I work for (the lovely Julie of Flavours Dining, facebook link here in Tufnell Park) to cook this dish with the chorizo I had left from my fusilli pasta recipe (post here) and some black pudding I had acquired during a recent visit to Lancashire.

A traditional frijoles using black beans can take hours to cook but this recipe uses canned white/cannellini beans and was ready in half an hour and tasted no less delicious.

First chop half a chorizo sausage and half a black pudding (skins removed) into chunks and start to cook in a large sauce pan with a sprig of fresh thyme. There is no need to add oil as the sausages will create enough themselves.  Chop one white onion and start to sweat down with the sausages. Then add 2 cloves of crushed garlic followed shortly by a large glass of red wine. Simmer the mixture well to make sure the alcohol burns off before adding two cans of drained white beans, a glass of beef stock and 1 tbsp of tomato puree. Simmer gently for 15-20 minutes. The black pudding will disintegrate into the sauce while the chorizo will remain in chunks. Season with black pepper, top with some fresh parsley and serve with crusty garlic bread:

For the garlic bread mash two cloves of garlic into some softened butter with lots of freshly chopped parsley. Slice the bread (use a nice rustic style bread like the ancienne bread I have used here or baguette) and butter both sides of each slice with the garlic mixture. Stick back together into the loaf shape, wrap with some baking parchment or tinfoil and roast in the oven at 180 degrees for 5-10 minutes or until the bread is crispy and the butter has melted.