Sopa da Pedra de Almeirim

Ingredients

• 300 g dried red catarino or borlotti beans
• 1 pig's ear (about 250 g)
• 200 g pork belly or cured streaky bacon, in one piece
• 1 chouriço de carne (about 150 g)
• 1 morcela or black pudding (about 120 g)
• 700 g floury potatoes
• 2 onions
• 6 garlic cloves
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tbsp sweet paprika (colorau)
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 40 g fresh coriander
• 2.5 litres water
• Salt and black pepper, to taste

Before you cook

• Put the beans in a bowl, cover them with plenty of cold water, and leave them to soak overnight.
• Drain the soaked beans and rinse them under the tap.
• Scrub the pig's ear well and scrape it clean.
• Peel the potatoes, cut them into 1.5 cm cubes, and keep them in cold water.
• Halve the onions, peel the garlic, and chop the coriander stalks and all.

Steps

1. Put the drained beans, pig's ear, pork belly, onion halves, garlic and bay leaves into a large pot.
2. Cover everything with the cold water.
3. Bring the pot to a boil and skim off the grey foam that rises to the top.
4. Turn the heat down and simmer, half covered, for one hour.
5. Add the chouriço and the morcela to the pot whole.
6. Simmer for another thirty minutes, until the beans are completely tender and a knife goes easily into the ear.
7. Lift out the pig's ear, pork belly, chouriço and morcela and set them on a board to cool a little.
8. Fish out the onion halves, mash them against the side of a bowl, and stir the pulp back into the broth.
9. Stir the olive oil and paprika into the broth.
10. Drain the potato cubes and add them to the pot.
11. Simmer for fifteen to twenty minutes, until the potatoes are soft at the edges and beginning to thicken the broth.
12. Cut the pig's ear into thin strips and the pork belly into small cubes.
13. Slice the chouriço and the morcela into thick coins.
14. Return all the meat to the pot and warm it through for five minutes.
15. Taste the soup and season it with salt and plenty of black pepper.
16. Stir in the chopped coriander off the heat.
17. Let the soup sit for ten minutes before serving, so it thickens and the flavours settle.