Prep Time: 8 hours, 30 minutes
Cook Time: 60 minutes
Ingredients:
- For the soup:
- 10 (250 g) ounces dried beans, soaked overnight
- 1 1/2 quarts (1.5 l) whole milk
- 1 1/2 quarts (1.5 l) water
- 2 ounces (50 g) fresh pork rinds
- 6 ounces (150 g) mashed cured lard (use fatty pancetta if need be)
- A carrot
- An onion, stuck with a clove
- A bay leaf
- Celery ribs
- For the seasoning:
- 5 ounces (125 g) mashed smoked lard (or pancetta)
- An onion, minced
- 10 ounces (250 g) brovada (see link below)
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 leaves sage, minced
- 1 tablespoon minced parsley
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 2 cups (1/2 l) dry white wine
- 1/2 pound (225 g) cornmeal
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- Salt
Preparation:
Drain the beans and put them in a large pot with the water, milk, lard, pork rinds, carrot, onion, and celery. Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer for a couple of hours. Remember to salt the beans just before you turn off the flame.While they're cooking, heat the butter in a second pot and stir in the flour, and as soon as it begins to color add the brovada, sprinkle it with the cumin, add the wine and a cup of water, and simmer the mixture for an hour or even more.
Reheat the beans, and as soon as they're warm add the brovada and sift in the cornmeal while stirring constantly. Don't let it cook for more that 20 minutes, or it would thicken too much. While it's cooking, sauté the remaining ingredients in a small pot, then stir them into the brovada and bring it to the table.
A wine? Ribolla Gialla, a Friulian white, goes quite well.
Yield: 4 servings jota with brovada.
