Spanish Butter Bean & Chorizo Stew (Fabada Asturiana)

The Spanish name for this dish is "Fabada Asturiana," as it originated in the Asturias region (capital: Oviedo) of northwestern Spain, but the dish is not uncommon in other parts of Spain. I looked at so many recipes for this dish, I lost count, but 25 would be a good guess. Some used smoked pork belly or smoked pork hock or salt pork, but I chose, as I saw in some recipes, raw pork belly, but I added a small smoked pork hock, just to add a slight smoky flavor to the smokiness of the Spanish paprika. I used dried, and thus firm, Spanish chorizo,* which is also seasoned with paprika. I like to bake many dishes that others cook on the stove top, and this recipe was no exception. It would also be a good dish to fix in a crock pot. Frequently served in Spain with hard cider or red wine and good crusty bread. 

1 pound white beans (fabada beans, butter beans or cannellini/white kidney beans)
1 large onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 bay leaf
1 medium tomato, chopped 
3/4 pound raw pork belly (you can trim off some of the fat)
1/2 pound firm chorizo, cut into about 1/4 inch slices 
1/2 pound Spanish morcilla blood sausage (also called, "blood pudding"), cut into two inch pieces
1 small smoked pork hock (also called "ham hock")
1 tablespoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon sweet paprika, preferably Spanish, or Spanish-style
2 tablespoons olive oil
a good "pinch" of saffron threads (saffron is an expensive spice derived from the crocus flower. Many supermarkets or spice shops have it. The spice is a common addition to dishes in Spain; thus, I have used it in the Word History, below)
water

You can soak the dried beans overnight, or put them into a pot, cover them with water and bring the water to a boil. Add no salt to the water. Turn off the heat, cover the pot and let the beans soak in the hot water for 60 to 75 minutes. Drain. Heat the oven to 325 F. In a pot or casserole, put the beans, the onion, the garlic, the salt, the pepper, the paprika, the tomato, the olive oil and the saffron. Stir to mix the ingredients a bit. Add the bay leaf, and snuggle in the pork belly, the chorizo slices, the morcilla and the pork hock. Add enough water to almost cover everything. Cover and bake for 75 minutes. Check to see if the dish needs water added (the beans won't cook properly if they don't have water). Bake until the beans and the pork belly are tender. The paprika from the chorizo and the loose paprika, along with the saffron, will give a reddish color to the stew. You can further slice down the morcilla blood sausage before serving.  

* Americans and Canadians are much more familiar with the soft chorizo which is common in Mexico, but most Spanish chorizo is more the texture of salami or pepperoni. 

WORD HISTORY:
Saffron-The ultimate origin of this word for the expensive thread-like spice taken from the crocus flower is unknown, although an Indo European or a Semitic origin seems likely, due to the plant's history in the general area of the Middle East, where people speaking Indo European and Semitic languages interacted, sometimes peacefully, but sometimes violently. Arabic, a language from the Semitic family of languages,^ had the transliterated "zafaran," as the word for the spice. Latin borrowed the word as "safranum," and this became "safran," in Latin-based Old French. English borrowed the word in the early 1200s. Spanish has azafrán.

^  The most common modern Semitic languages are Arabic, Amharic, Hebrew and Tigrinya. Arabic and Hebrew are commonly known in much of Europe and North America, but Amharic is spoken in a large part of Ethiopia. Tigrinya is also spoken in parts of Ethiopia and Eritrea, another East African nation.