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.
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Make it at home
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
- Drain the soaked beans. Place in a large pot with the trotter, ear, 2 litres of cold water and the bay leaf.
- Bring to a boil, skim the foam. Reduce heat and simmer covered for 1 hour.
- Add chorizo, morcilla, onion, garlic and paprika. Simmer 45 minutes more.
- Add the rice. Cook 18 minutes until the rice is tender and the stew has thickened.
- Lift out the trotter and ear, slice and return to the pot.
- 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
Las Tinajas in Granada is the second-generation Figares institution open since 1971, with clay tinajas overhead and a Vinos de Granada wine cellar.
Book1 week ahead
TipOrder off the menu del dia at lunch; the same kitchen runs a la carte in the evening at double the price.
Chikito ★ 4.3
Chikito in Granada sits where Cafe Alameda hosted Lorca and Manuel de Fallas Rinconcillo circle in the 1920s; Jose Carlos Exposito runs the kitchen.
Book3 days ahead
TipClosed Wednesdays; the front bar pours free tapas at lunchtime if you do not want to commit to the dining room.
Restaurante Sevilla ★ 4.2
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.
SignatureSopa sevillana, Tortilla del Sacromonte, Cordero a la moruna
TipThe dining room is tiny and the entrance is barely marked; listen for the guitarist playing de Falla and you will find the door.
Mirador de Morayma ★ 4.4
Mirador de Morayma in Granada is the Albayzin carmen named for Boabdils wife, with terraced gardens facing the Alhambra and a remojon-bacalao menu.
Book1 week ahead
TipClosed Sundays and Mondays; book the carmen terrace not the indoor room from May to October.
Bodegas Castaneda ★ 4.5
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.
TryFree tapas with vermut
TipThe tapas rotation slows after 23:00 but does not stop; the kitchen runs until close.
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