History

Olla de San Anton is the Granadina stew cooked around January 17, the feast of Saint Anthony, using the leftover pork from the November-December matanza tradition. The dish combines white beans (habichuelas), rice, pig ear, trotter, chorizo and morcilla in a clay olla. The recipe comes from the citys 18th-century convents, where the nuns ran a charity meal for Saint Anthony. Modern Granada restaurants still cook the dish through January and into February, with Chikito and Las Tinajas the most-cited stops.

Make it at home

Yield 6Hands-on 30 minTotal 3 hrDifficulty Intermediate

Ingredients

  • 400g dried white beans, soaked overnight
  • 150g rice
  • 1 pigs ear
  • 1 pigs trotter
  • 200g chorizo
  • 200g morcilla
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 tsp sweet paprika
  • 60ml olive oil
  • Salt

Method

  1. Drain the soaked beans. Place in a large pot with the trotter, ear, 2 litres of cold water and the bay leaf.
  2. Bring to a boil, skim the foam. Reduce heat and simmer covered for 1 hour.
  3. Add chorizo, morcilla, onion, garlic and paprika. Simmer 45 minutes more.
  4. Add the rice. Cook 18 minutes until the rice is tender and the stew has thickened.
  5. Lift out the trotter and ear, slice and return to the pot.
  6. Rest 10 minutes off the heat before serving. The stew thickens as it sits.

Tip from the editors. Soak the beans 24 hours rather than 12; the longer soak softens them through evenly.

Where to eat olla de san anton

Olla de San Anton in Granada

Las Tinajas ★ 4.4

Spanish€€€€€45-60figaresMon-Sat 13:30-16:00, 20:30-23:30Book 1 week ahead

Las Tinajas in Granada is the second-generation Figares institution open since 1971, with clay tinajas overhead and a Vinos de Granada wine cellar.

Tip: Order off the menu del dia at lunch; the same kitchen runs a la carte in the evening at double the price.

Calle Martinez Campos 17, 18002 Granada

Chikito ★ 4.3

SpanishChef Jose Carlos Exposito€€€€€35-50centro-sagrarioThu-Tue 13:00-16:00, 20:00-23:30Book 3 days ahead

Chikito in Granada sits where Cafe Alameda hosted Lorca and Manuel de Fallas Rinconcillo circle in the 1920s; Jose Carlos Exposito runs the kitchen.

Tip: Closed Wednesdays; the front bar pours free tapas at lunchtime if you do not want to commit to the dining room.

Plaza del Campillo 9, 18009 Granada

Restaurante Sevilla ★ 4.2

Spanish€€centro-sagrarioTue-Sat 13:00-16:30, 20:00-23:30

Restaurante Sevilla in Granada is the 1930s cathedral-district room where Federico Garcia Lorca and Manuel de Falla used to lunch, still in the family.

Signature: Sopa sevillana, Tortilla del Sacromonte, Cordero a la moruna

Tip: The dining room is tiny and the entrance is barely marked; listen for the guitarist playing de Falla and you will find the door.

Calle Oficios 12, 18001 Granada

Mirador de Morayma ★ 4.4

Spanish€€€€€55albayzinTue-Sat 13:30-00:00, kitchen continuousBook 1 week ahead

Mirador de Morayma in Granada is the Albayzin carmen named for Boabdils wife, with terraced gardens facing the Alhambra and a remojon-bacalao menu.

Tip: Closed Sundays and Mondays; book the carmen terrace not the indoor room from May to October.

Calle Pianista Garcia Carrillo 2, 18010 Granada

Bodegas Castaneda ★ 4.5

Spanish tapas€€centro-sagrarioMon-Sun 12:00-00:30Until 00:30

Bodegas Castaneda on Calle Almireceros in Granada runs to 00:30, the citys most reliable late tapeo stop with free tapas and house vermut on tap.

Try: Free tapas with vermut

Tip: The tapas rotation slows after 23:00 but does not stop; the kitchen runs until close.

Calle Almireceros 1, 18010 Granada

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