Chickpeas with spinach and egg: Seville Lent recipe

Seville has two calendars: the civil one and the Lenten one. And in the second, chickpeas with spinach are law. It is not a sad meatless dish made out of obligation; it is one of the richest stews in the Andalusian repertoire. Creamy pulses, melting greens, a mash of fried bread that thickens the broth and a poached egg that breaks over the top. Full stop.

It is cooked from February through Holy Week out of custom, but it works all twelve months. As soon as the cold arrives, you crave it. And it is one of those dishes that tastes better the next day, so if you cook for two, make it for four.

Quick recipe facts

A little history: why it is a Lenten dish

The Church prohibited eating meat on Fridays in Lent and on Good Friday. In Seville, a city deeply devoted to Holy Week, meatless cooking became a genre of its own: cod, spinach, chickpeas, egg. No pork, no veal. That is why this pottage is the meatless stew par excellence in western Andalusia, alongside the spinach with chickpeas tapas (a drier version, typical of the bar counters in central Seville).

The recipe spread through convents and humble homes: cheap, filling ingredients with no meat. The egg provides the protein, and the mash of fried bread, cumin and paprika gives it the flavour that identifies it.

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 400 g dried chickpeas (preferably pedrosillano or castellano)
• 500 g fresh spinach (or 400 g frozen leaf spinach)
• 4 free-range eggs, size M
• 100 g day-old bread (crumb and crust)
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 1 medium onion (150 g)
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1 teaspoon Vera PDO smoked paprika (sweet, or half sweet and half hot)
• 1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
• 80 ml extra virgin olive oil
• Salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Water (about 2 litres)

Step-by-step method

1. The night before, put the chickpeas in a large bowl covered with plenty of lukewarm water and a teaspoon of salt. Leave them for 12 hours. They should double in size.
2. Drain the chickpeas and put them in a pot with cold water covering them by three fingers, the bay leaf and half an onion left whole. Bring to the boil, skim off the foam and lower to medium-low heat. Cook for 1 h 15 min to 1 h 30 min (or 25 min in a pressure cooker) until tender but whole. Salt at the end, never at the start, or they will toughen.
3. Meanwhile, wash the fresh spinach. Blanch it for 2 minutes in boiling salted water, drain and chop coarsely. If using frozen, thaw and squeeze out well with your hands.
4. In a frying pan with 4 tablespoons of the oil, fry the bread cut into pieces until golden (2-3 min). Remove. In the same oil, fry 3 peeled garlic cloves until golden (1 min). Remove.
5. The mash. In a mortar, crush the fried garlic, the fried bread, the cumin seeds and a pinch of coarse salt. Add the sherry vinegar and a tablespoon of the chickpea cooking liquid. It should form a thick caramel-coloured paste.
6. In the same pan, sweat the other half onion, very finely chopped, over medium heat for 8-10 min until translucent. Add the remaining chopped garlic clove, cook 1 min more, take off the heat and add the Vera PDO smoked paprika. Stir quickly so it does not burn (it turns bitter in seconds).
7. Pour the sofrito over the chickpeas, discarding the bay leaf and the old onion. Add the spinach and the mash. Cover just with the reserved cooking liquid. Cook for 15 min over low heat, moving the pot in a rocking motion (never with a spoon, or the chickpeas break). It should be brothy but thickened, the broth slightly dense.
8. The eggs. Five minutes before serving, crack the eggs carefully directly onto the pottage, spaced apart, and cover. Cook 4-5 min: the white set, the yolk runny. Adjust salt and pepper.

Tips and variations

• Pedrosillano chickpea: it is small, round and holds up to cooking without falling apart. If you use castellano chickpeas (larger), add 20 minutes of cooking time.
• With cod: very typical in Seville to add 200 g of desalted, flaked cod in step 7. It then becomes a complete “meatless pottage”.
• Gluten-free: replace the fried bread with 30 g of raw almonds toasted in the pan. The mash comes out just as thick.
• Modern pressure cooker: cook the chickpeas for 25 min with the valve set on top. The rest is the same.
• Classic mistake: burning the paprika. Always take it off the heat.

Pairing and serving

Serve in a deep plate, with the whole egg on top so each diner breaks it. A splash of raw extra virgin olive oil at the end makes all the difference.

For wine, a Jerez fino DO or a very chilled Sanlúcar manzanilla DO go wonderfully with the cumin and paprika. If you prefer red, a young wine from the Sierra Norte de Sevilla or a light tempranillo from the Ribera del Guadiana DO. Nothing too oaky; it would cover the mash.

Since Lenten spoon dishes are usually followed by something sweet, finish with some homemade milk torrijas and the Holy Week menu is complete.

Frequently asked questions

Can it be frozen? Yes, but without the egg. Freeze the pottage once step 7 is finished, for up to 2 months. Thaw in the fridge and add the eggs when reheating.

How long does it keep in the fridge? Up to 3 days in an airtight container. In fact, it is better from the second day: the mash blends in and the chickpeas take on flavour.

Can I use canned chickpeas? You can, but you lose texture. If you are in a hurry, use 800 g of drained cooked chickpeas and start directly at step 3. Make the broth with a vegetable stock cube and water (500 ml).

Is it the same as the spinach with chickpeas tapas? No. The Seville tapa is dry, without broth, more heavily spiced and without egg. This is the pottage, a spoon stew with thickened broth and a poached egg on top.

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