It was a Sunday and guests were coming over and I got inspired. Two books, The New Spanish Table by Anya von Bremzen and Spanish Made Simple by Omar Allibhoy, inspired me. Allibhoy’s recipe was very simple but von Bremzen’s description added context and helped me to improvise, just a little.

I had adventuresome guests so I decided to use a mix of local sausages, in the this case, Toulouse and budin noir from The Fatted Calf. I was a wee bit concerned about blood sausages but when the final dish came out, they were the first things gone. They are very easy to enjoy.

In Allibhoy’s recipe, you just fry the sausages but von Bremzen suggests poaching them first for 2 minutes in boiling water. This seemed like a good idea and I saved the poaching water for a future pot of beans.

I also added some traditional Spanish-style chorizo from Aurelia’s in Texas. It’s delicious and I am going to assume very traditional. I ordered mine online and if you do the same, double what you think you may need as it will go fast and it seems to go with everything, especially beans.

Ingredients:

• Olive oil
• 2 cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 head of garlic, halved lengthwise
• 8 ounces pancetta, cubed
• 1 small potato, cubed
• 2 morcilla sausages (blood sausages), punctured and poached in water for 2 minutes
• 4 Toulouse or other uncooked, European style pork sausages, punctured and poached in water for 2 minutes
• 1 hard Spanish chorizo, sliced
• 1 teaspoon sweet, smoked pimenton
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 large tomato, grated
• 3½ cups bean broth (or chicken, beef or pork broth)
• 2 teaspoons saffron threads
• 2 cups paella (bomba) rice
• 1½ to 2 cups cooked Rancho Gordo Garbanzo beans, strained
• Salt

Serves 6

1. Heat a large pan or cazuela over medium heat. If you’re using a clay cazuela, there shouldn’t be a problem, but you might want to start on low and turn up the heat as the pan warms. Add a splash of olive oil and fry the tomatoes and garlic halves until they are golden, taking care to keep the top of the garlic half in one piece. Remove the garlic and tomatoes and reserve.
2. Add the pancetta, potato, and morcilla and Toulouse sausages and cook gently for 15 minutes, turning and browning the sausages as needed. Add the chorizo, pimenton, bay leaf, and grated tomato and continue to gently fry for 3 to 4 more minutes.
3. While the sausage mixture cooks, in a saucepan, bring the stock/broth to a boil and preheat the oven to 400F.
4. Add the rice to the cazuela and stir, cooking for 2 minutes.
5. Pour the boiling stock into the cazuela, over the rice, along with the garbanzos and saffron threads, and stir. Spread the meat around as evenly as possible. Gently add back the garlic halves and tomatoes. Raise the heat to medium-high and allow the mixture to simmer rapidly for 10 minutes.
6. Transfer the cazuela to the oven and bake for 10 minutes.
7. After 10 minutes, check the rice. If it’s done, remove the cazuela from the oven and allow it to rest on the tabletop before serving. If the rice hasn’t finished cooking, keep the cazuela in the oven and check every few minutes until the rice is cooked.
8. You can cut the sausages into halves, or even bite-size pieces. I prefer halves.
9. Allow the dish to rest for 10 to 15 minutes.