I missed last week, which means I’m already running behind! But fear not because I’m back to put things back on track and continue our culinary journey, back to Europe. This time, we travel to a small territory tucked between Spain and France to discover: Andorra!

Officially called the Principality of Andorra, it is a landlocked country on the Iberian Peninsula, located in the eastern Pyrenees of southwestern Europe, bordered by France to the north and Spain to the south. 

Andorra is the sixth-smallest state in Europe, the world’s 16th-smallest country by land area, and the 11th-smallest by population. It is not part of the European Union, but it is a member of the Council of Europe and the United Nations. 

And if you’d like to travel there, it’s worth knowing that they speak Catalan–the official language–as well as Spanish, Portuguese, and French. 

Andorran gastronomy is mainly Catalan, although it has also adopted other elements from French and Italian cuisines.

It relies heavily on ingredients common along the Mediterranean coast, including fresh vegetables (especially tomato, garlic, eggplant, capsicum, and artichoke), wheat products (bread and pasta), Arbequina olive oil, wines, legumes (beans and chickpeas), mushrooms (particularly wild mushrooms), nuts (pine nuts, hazelnuts, and almonds), all sorts of pork preparations, sheep’s and goat’s cheese, poultry, and lamb.

For Andorra, it took me a while to decide which dish I was going to prepare, mainly because the vast majority of dishes use mushrooms and/or white cabbage–and my girlfriend hates both. There were also a couple of options that, while are not technically French dishes, are heavily French-influenced, and I didn’t want to feel (or give the impression) that I’m cooking a French dish in advance. 

Ultimately, I went for Escudella! It is a national dish that is essentially a stew made with many different types of meats, vegetables, and carbs. The exact contents of escudella vary from chef to chef, but the most important component is the bone marrow bone, which gives the stew its intense flavor.

Because Escudella has a lot of ingredients and can be quite heavy, it’s most commonly eaten in winter– and with these cold days, it felt like the perfect dish to try. 

Usually, the bone marrow bones are already cut with the marrow exposed, but I couldn’t find them. Instead, my butcher sold me a pig bone, which was bigger than what I expected, so I only needed one. In the end, I think it worked just the same. 

I also I replaced the shell-shaped pasta with bow tie pasta, simply because I somehow have a lot of packages of it in my pantry. The shape is different… but the taste is the same. 

And while I mentioned that my girlfriend hates white cabbage, after I told her that almost every Andorran dish has either cabbage, mushrooms, or both, she agreed that I could include cabbage to stay true to the original recipe—as long as I cut it into big pieces so she could remove it if needed.

With these small adjustments and agreements, it was time to start cooking. 

For the chickpeas and white beans, remember that if you choose not to use canned versions and instead use them dried (like I did), you’ll need to soak them in water for at least 8 hours so they’re soft when it’s time to cook. 

1. In a large pot, pour in the oil and start heating it. 

2. Roll the ground pork into meatballs and cook them in the oil for about 5 minutes, until browned. 

3. Dice the ham steak and add it to the pot along with the chicken breasts and the bones.

4. Add 9 cups of water and bring it to a boil over high heat.

5. Once boiling, lower the heat and let it simmer for 2 hours. 

6. Remove the bones and take out the chicken breasts to shred them.

7. Return the shredded chicken to the pot and add the remaining ingredients: chickpeas, white beans, cabbage, prosciutto, potatoes, rice, noodles, salt, pepper, and cumin. If needed, you can add 2 or more cups of water. 

8. Increase the heat and let it cook for at least another 30 minutes, until everything is fully cooked–specially the potatoes and rice. 

9. Serve immediately while it’s hot.

It turned out exactly how I expected–and that makes me happy. 

It was thick, with a strong, delicious, foreign smell and taste. The combination of all the ingredients makes it hearty and very filling.  

And the best part is that the person who said she didn’t like white cabbage… 😏 she liked it–and even asked me to add more so the stew would have more veggies. In fact, she’s now calling this dish her favorite so far in this journey. 

Also, by the time I’m writing this, it’s been a full day since I cooked it, and this morning I had another bowl for breakfast. After resting overnight, the flavors integrated better, so it tasted even better the next day. 

The best part of the post: learnings! This week there are only two, but even if there’s just one, as long as there’s something to learn, it’s worth it.

The first thing I learned is to double-check the grocery list before shopping—especially when the recipe has a lot of ingredients. This time, I made my list and ordered everything online, and two hours after the order was accepted and closed, I realized I had forgotten to add the ground pork… which is the very first ingredient used. So I had to run to the supermarket at 9 p.m., because my plan was to start cooking the next morning.

After this, it won’t happen again… I hope. I really hope.

The second thing I learned is that the farmer’s market is your best friend. Sure, the supermarket is convenient because they can deliver your order straight to your door, but sometimes it’s more expensive, a bit less fresh, and may not always have everything you’re looking for. In my case, they didn’t have the bone marrow bones, but a quick trip to my local farmer’s market solved that problem. They had them—cheaper and fresher. Plus, it’s local, and it’s always good to support the community.

One more dish is in the books. Now we return to Africa to prepare another new dish.

Coming up next: Angola 🇦🇴