Portel Chickpea Stew with Sausages

Portel chickpea stew combines meats, sausages and vegetables in a winter dish to share. The chickpeas are cooked separately, the meat stock receives the vegetables and, at the end, it is served with slices of Alentejo bread.

A recipe collected in Portel

Carta Gastronómica do Alentejo recorded this recipe in an interview with Maria de Lurdes Souto Gusmão Branquinho, in Portel. There is an important order to the preparation: salt the pig's trotter and soak the chickpeas the day before; cook the farinheira separately; use the strained meat stock for the vegetables; and add the oregano only after turning off the heat. This is how the flavours reach the bread on the plate.

Serves: about 4 people, with possible leftovers
Advance preparation: one night for the chickpeas and pig's trotter
Cooking time: about 2 hours 30 minutes to 3 hours, depending on the meats and chickpeas

Ingredients for 4 people

• 1 cleaned pig's trotter, about 600 to 800 g
• 500 g lamb, cut into pieces
• 500 g chicken, cut into pieces
• 1 medium linguiça, such as Linguiça Alentejana – Porco Branco – 250 g
• 1 meat chouriço
• 1 farinheira
• 300 g dried chickpeas
• 4 medium potatoes
• 4 medium carrots
• 500 g green beans
• 300 g mogango or another type of squash
• 4 to 6 slices of stale Alentejo bread, such as Pão Tradicional Alentejano de Forno de Lenha
• 1 small sprig of oregano
• Salt, as needed
• Enough water to cover the meats, about 2.5 l, and separate water for the chickpeas and farinheira

Preparation

1. Prepare the day before. Cover the dried chickpeas with plenty of cold water and leave them to soak overnight. Season the pig's trotter with salt, cover and refrigerate. The next day, drain the chickpeas and rinse the pig's trotter to remove excess salt.
2. Cook the chickpeas. Place them in a pan with plenty of fresh water and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and cook for about 60 to 90 minutes, or until tender. Drain and set aside.
3. Cook the meats and sausages. In another large pot, cover the pig's trotter, lamb, chicken, linguiça and chouriço with about 2.5 l of water. Bring to a gentle boil, skimming off any foam that rises to the surface. Cook over low heat, removing each ingredient when it is fully cooked: the chicken usually takes about 35 to 45 minutes; the sausages, 20 to 30 minutes; the lamb, about 60 to 90 minutes; and the pig's trotter may need 90 to 120 minutes. These times are guidelines and do not replace checking whether the meat is done.
4. Cook the farinheira separately. In a small pan of hot water, maintain a very gentle boil for about 15 to 20 minutes, until the farinheira is cooked. Remove carefully so that it does not split and set aside with the remaining meats.
5. Finish the vegetables in the stock. Strain the meat stock into a clean pot. Peel the potatoes, carrots and mogango and cut them into large pieces; trim the green beans. Add the potatoes and carrots to the stock first and cook for about 10 minutes. Add the green beans and squash and cook for another 10 to 15 minutes, until the vegetables are tender. Add the cooked chickpeas and heat for a further 5 minutes. Taste before adding salt.
6. Serve with bread slices. Turn off the heat and add the sprig of oregano to the stock. Cut the meats and sausages into portions and arrange them with the vegetables and chickpeas on a serving platter. Place slices of stale Alentejo bread in deep plates and pour the hot stock over them.

Tips for the stew

Use a large pot and add hot water as needed if the meats are no longer covered. Removing each meat as soon as it is cooked prevents the chicken from falling apart while the pig's trotter finishes tenderising. The farinheira is cooked separately, as in the collected recipe, so that it does not split in the main pot.

Bread, sausages and wine at the table

The Alentejo bread absorbs the stew's stock, while the linguiça, chouriço and farinheira add flavour to the serving platter. Serve Monte de Pinheiros Tinto 2023 – Vinho Regional Alentejano with the meats, sausages and bread slices.

Advance preparation and storage

Soak the chickpeas and salt the pig's trotter the day before, always keeping the pig's trotter in the refrigerator. Store cooked leftovers covered in the refrigerator as soon as they have cooled, and reheat the stock, meats and vegetables thoroughly before serving again.

Frequently asked questions

Why is the farinheira cooked separately?

It is the method described in the source recipe and helps prevent it from breaking apart among the other meats and sausages.

When is the oregano added?

At the end, after turning off the heat, so that it perfumes the stock without cooking throughout the entire time in the pot.

Bring Alentejo to the table

Add Linguiça Alentejana de Porco Branco to the stew, serve the stock over Pão Tradicional Alentejano de Forno de Lenha and enjoy it with Monte de Pinheiros Tinto 2023. If you prefer a fish recipe with bread, try our Baleizão dogfish soup.

Source

Confraria Gastronómica do Alentejo, Carta Gastronómica do Alentejo (2013), p. 552. Recipe for chickpea stew collected in Portel in an interview with Maria de Lurdes Souto Gusmão Branquinho.

Recipe collected in Central Alentejo, adapted by Herdade do Estacal for the “À Mesa com o Alentejo” blog. The source lists one whole chicken and half a leg of lamb for four people; in this version, we reduced the quantities of those meats while keeping the ingredients and cooking sequence. The times are practical guidelines added here.

Illustrative image generated for this article.