Escudella

Ingredients

Broth and meats

• 1chicken leg quarter (400 g)
• 500 gbeef shin on the bone
• 300 gpork ribs, salted overnight if possible
• 1ham bone or 150 g cured ham hock
• 1pig’s trotter, split (optional but traditional)
• 200 gbotifarra negra (blood sausage)
• 200 gwhite botifarra
• 4 litrescold water

Vegetables and pulses

• 250 gdried chickpeas, soaked overnight
• 3potatoes, halved
• 3carrots, in chunks
• 2turnips, quartered
• ½white cabbage, in wedges
• 1leek
• 1celery stick
• 2 tspsalt

Pilota (the giant meatball)

• 300 gminced pork
• 150 gminced beef
• 2garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tbspchopped parsley
• 1egg
• 60 gfresh breadcrumbs soaked in 3 tbsp milk
• ½ tspground cinnamon
• salt and pepper
• 2 tbspplain flour, for shaping

Soup

• 150 ggalets (large pasta shells) or broken vermicelli
• 80 gshort-grain rice

Directions

1. Put the beef, pork ribs, ham bone and trotter into the cold water with the drained chickpeas in a muslin bag, bring slowly to a boil and skim off the grey foam for the first 15 minutes until the surface runs clear.
2. Lower to a bare tremble and simmer uncovered for 1 hour 30 minutes. A rolling boil makes the broth cloudy and greasy, which is the one fault an escudella cannot recover from.
3. Add the chicken, leek, celery, carrot and turnip and simmer 40 minutes more.
4. Mix all the pilota ingredients, working them until sticky, then shape into one large oval the size of a fist, roll it in flour to seal, and lower it into the pot. Simmer 30 minutes without stirring, or it will break up.
5. Add the potatoes, cabbage and both botifarres for the final 25 minutes, and season the broth to taste only now, since the cured meats have already salted it.
6. Lift everything out onto a warm platter, keeping it moist under foil, and strain the broth. You should have about 2.5 litres of clear, amber, deeply savoury liquid.
7. Return 2 litres of broth to the boil, add the galets and rice and cook 12–14 minutes until the pasta is tender, then rest 5 minutes off the heat.
8. Serve as two courses, the way it is served in Andorran homes: first the sopa of pasta and broth, then the carn d’olla, the meats, pilota and vegetables carved on the platter with mustard and pickles alongside.

Technique

• Escudella i carn d’olla is a two-course dish from one pot, and serving it all in a bowl together is the giveaway of a foreign cook.
• The pilota is added late and never disturbed. Its breadcrumb and egg binding sets slowly, and a stir in the first ten minutes will shred it.
• In Andorra and Catalonia this is the Christmas Day dish, where the pasta shells are the biggest galets available and the leftovers become trinxat or croquetes the next day.

Substitutions

• Cannot find botifarra negra? Use a French boudin noir or a Spanish morcilla de Burgos, added for the last 20 minutes only.
• Tinned chickpeas can be used, added with the potatoes, though the broth loses some body.

Variations

• Escudella barrejada, the everyday version where broth, pasta, pulses and chopped meat are served mixed in one bowl.
• Escudella de pagès, a simple farmhouse pot with only bones, vegetables and rice.

History

Catalan and Andorran winter meat-and-vegetable pot; a large seasoned meatball called the pilota is added at Christmas as escudella de Nadal.

Frequently asked questions

What is Escudella?

Escudella is a soup & stew from Andorra: meat, sausage, vegetable and pasta hotpot, the national dish. Catalan and Andorran winter meat-and-vegetable pot; a large seasoned meatball called the pilota is added at Christmas as escudella de Nadal.

How long does Escudella take to make?

Escudella takes 40 min of preparation and 3 hr of cooking. The recipe makes 6 servings. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Escudella?

Yes, within limits. Cannot find botifarra negra? Use a French boudin noir or a Spanish morcilla de Burgos, added for the last 20 minutes only. Tinned chickpeas can be used, added with the potatoes, though the broth loses some body.

What is the most important thing to get right in Escudella?

Mix all the pilota ingredients, working them until sticky, then shape into one large oval the size of a fist, roll it in flour to seal, and lower it into the pot. Simmer 30 minutes without stirring, or it will break up.