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JEFF KOEHLER

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December 12th, 2008

Pinotxo’s Chickpeas with Blood Sausage, Raisins, and Pine Nuts

In Portland this summer to give a reading, I stayed with my old friend Jim Finley. He took me Sellwood to eat lunch at the taco cart on the corner of Spokane and 13th. A sudden shower drove us across the street into Vino to finish our fabulous tacos. Vino is a large wine store, airy, with a massive table and sense of community (not to mention a great selection of wine).

The owner Bruce Bauer had not long before been in Barcelona, where he swooned over a breakfast of chickpeas with bits of blood sausage, raisins, and pine nuts at Bar Pinotxo inside La Boqueria market.

“I want that recipe!” he said when he found out that I often eat this before shopping in the market.

Half-jokingly, I replied: “What will you trade?”

He took down from the shelf a fine local pinot and handed it to me. By the quality of the bottle I knew he was serious.

So, here you go Bruce, my adaptation of Pinotxo’s recipe, with perdonas on its tardiness. It’s best for breakfast with a glass of wine and then a cortado (espresso with a shot of hot milk). I hope you enjoy this as much as I did the pinot.

Pinotxo’s Chickpeas with Blood Sausage, Raisins, and Pine Nuts

Serves 4

1/4 cup seedless raisins
8 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, preferably unfiltered arbequina
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1/4 cup pine nuts
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
6 ounces botifarra negre (Catalan blood sausage)
1 1/2 pounds cooked chickpeas
1 heaped tablespoon chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
Balsamic vinegar
Coarse sea salt

Soak the raisins in a glass of warm water for 10 minutes; drain.

In a large skillet over medium heat, heat 2 tablespoons of the oil, add the onion, and cook until golden, 5 to 10 minutes. Add the reserved raisins, the pine nuts, garlic, and the botifarra. Cook, stirring and breaking up the botifarra until crumbled.

Add the chickpeas and parsley, reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and cook, stirring from time to time, until the chickpeas are hot and the ingredients well mixed.

Divide among 4 plates. Add 1 1/2 tablespoon of oil to each, a dash of vinegar, and some flakes of salt. Serve.

Posted by jeffkoehler in  recipes  |  

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