Potato stew (with meat)

This dish is one of my growing up favorites. Both my grandmothers used to cook it and so does my mom. Not sure it is a “typical” Catalan dish, but it is well known there and you can find it in many homes. Actually, the pictures you see here are from this summer when I was home and my mom cooked it. Even though it is more like a fall stew, and it is a good recipe for these days, I don’t care how cold or hot is out there and when I’m visiting, I always ask my mom prepare it, plus, my kids love it too.

The star of this stew, as you can imagine by its name, are the potatoes. The flavor comes from the sofregit and the meat: pork links and baby back ribs. If in season or handy, you can add mushrooms which will add an extra layer of flavor to the stew.

If you prepare this dish in a place other than Spain, make sure that the pork links are as simple as possible. In Spain we have “salchichas” which are basically grounded pork meat in the shape of a link, no flavors, spices or sugar. Nothing. Nada. Well, at the most some salt and pepper, that is how much excitement we give to our links. But here in the States I have never found links that don’t have any flavor, but the worse is sugar. Sweet links will ruin your stew. Stay away from them!!

If you have leftovers don’t worry, these potatoes will taste even better the day after. Accompany them with a green salad and a glass of red wine and you have a great meal. Oh! And don’t forget the bread to dip in the remaining stew liquid on your plate. Hello carbs! But it is too good to be missed, sorry!

Potato stew (with meat)

• Author: Carla
• Prep Time: 10
• Cook Time: 25
• Total Time: 35 minutes
• Category: Main dish
• Method: Pressure cook
• Cuisine: Catalan

Print Recipe

Pin Recipe

---

Description

Great fall stew easy to put together. Accompany with a salad, red wine and some bread and you have a wonderful fall meal.

---

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 4 lb gold potatoes
• 1 lb baby back ribs, cut in 1-inch cubes
• 8 pork links (as plain as possible)
• 7 oz fresh wild mushrooms or 1 oz dry and rehydrated
• 3 tbs sofregit
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 garlic head
• 1 onion
• Olive oil
• Salt
• Pepper

---

Instructions

1. If you are using dried mushrooms first rehydrate them by soaking them in hot water. Leave them in the soaking water while you do the next steps. Do not discard the water.
2. In pan with olive oil and high heat sear the baby back ribs and links, 5 min aprox.
3. Add the whole peeled onion and whole garlic head to the pan and saute for a couple minutes.
4. Add the sofregit to the pan and stir 2 min more (see notes if you don’t have sofregit ready).
5. Add the mushrooms and stir another 2 min.
6. Transfer everything to the pressure cooker (if you don’t have a pressure cooker see notes for conventional cooking).
7. Peel and cut the potatoes in quarters. Add them to the pressure cooker.
8. Add water just to cover the potatoes and meat (if you have the water from rehydrating the mushrooms, use it).
9. Add salt, pepper and bay leave.
10. Close the pressure cooker and cook for 15 min.
11. Open the pressure cooker and adjust salt and pepper if needed.

---

Notes

If you don’t have sofregit ready, cut 1 onion in little cubes and saute them in olive oil until they are golden brown. Then add 1 can (14 oz) of tomato sauce and let cook for 10-15 min until it has reduced a bit. Then continue as instructed in point num 4.

If you don’t have a pressure cooker a regular big pot will work too. The cooking time might be a bit longer. Just check the potatoes as they cook.

A personal secret: the best way to eat them is mashed with the fork.