Black pudding is eaten all over Europe, and indeed much of Latin America and Asia too, and comes in a wide variety of styles. It is an especially important ingredient in Catalan cuisine.
The principal ingredient is pig’s blood mixed with pork fat, onions, breadcrumbs and rice to give it more volume. In other regions different “filler” ingredients may be used, changing its flavour but this recipe will work with just about any of the many varieties of morcilla!
It goes very well with many types of fruit and, in this recipe, we are going to cook it with apples and a dash of brandy and serve it with purée de patatas.
Ingredients (for 4 people):
- 500g of morcilla
- 75g of butter
- 2 good sized green apples
- 50g of sugar
- 2 tablespoons of brandy (preferably Calvados apple brandy if you can get it)
For the mashed potatoes:
- 4-6 potatoes, depending on size (and hunger!)
- Garlic
- Butter, preferably salted
- Salt
Preparation:
- Cut your morcilla into thick slices (or you can cook it whole if you prefer)
- Peel and core the apples and cut them into thick slices
- Fry the morcilla slices in 25g of butter, turning them regularly as they cook to prevent hardening
- Separately, fry the apple slices in the other 50g of butter until golden brown
- Add 250ml of water and the sugar and simmer gently until the apples are tender
- Add the Calvados or brandy and stir
- Remove the apples from the syrup and bring the syrup to the boil until it thickens
- Serve the morcilla and apples with the apple brandy sauce and mashed potatoes
Serving suggestion:
- When boiling the potatoes to prepare the purée, add several cloves of garlic (peeled but not chopped) to the salted water.
- When the potatoes are cooked, drain, and mash the potatoes and garlic cloves together with plenty of butter.
- For extra smooth creaminess, you can also add a raw egg when mashing. The heat of the potatoes will cook the egg as you mix it in.
- Add salt according to taste.
Bon Profit!
Check out our other recipes for Mediterranean dishes to try at home.