Escudella i carn d'ollaCatalan meat and vegetable soup

• 150 g3/4 cup dried chickpeas, soaked overnight; a mesh bag keeps them together
• 500 g1.1 lb veal or beef brisket or rib (pit or costella de vedella), in one piece
• 300 g10 oz lamb or mutton breast, the fourth meat of the Christmas version; optional
• 1/4 boiling hen or chicken, a leg and thigh piece
• 1 pig's trotter (peu de porc), split; a piece of pig's ear or snout may join it
• 1 ham bone (os de pernil)
• 1 beef marrow or knee bone (os blanc)
• 100 g3 1/2 oz cansalada (salt pork belly), in one or two slices
• 4 l4 1/4 qt cold water
• 2 carrots, peeled, whole
• 1 leek, cleaned, whole
• 1 celery stalk
• 1 turnip (nap), peeled
• 1 parsnip (xirivia), peeled
• 1/2 green or savoy cabbage, in one or two wedges
• 4 medium potatoes, peeled, whole or halved
• 1-2 botifarra blanca (white Catalan sausage)
• 1-2 botifarra negra (Catalan blood sausage)
• salt, to taste
• 150 g5 oz minced veal or beef, for the pilota
• 150 g5 oz minced pork, for the pilota
• 1 egg, for the pilota
• 1 garlic clove, for the pilota, very finely chopped
• 1 tbsp parsley, for the pilota, chopped
• 40 g1 1/2 oz bread crumb (molla de pa), for the pilota, soaked in a little milk and squeezed
• 2 tbsp flour, for coating the pilota
• salt and black pepper, for the pilota
• 250 g9 oz galets (large pasta shells); or rice, or thick fideus, galets at Christmas

Method

1. 1

   1. Put the brisket, lamb, hen, trotter, ham bone, marrow bone and cansalada in a very large pot, cover with the cold water and bring slowly to the boil.

2. 2

   2. Skim off the grey foam as it rises, several times, until the surface stays clear, then lower the heat so the pot only trembles.

3. 3

   3. After 1 hour, add the drained chickpeas (in their bag, if using one). Keep the simmer gentle and skim off fat now and then.

4. 4

   4. After a second hour, add the carrots, leek, celery, turnip and parsnip.

5. 5

   5. Meanwhile, make the pilota: mix the two minced meats with the egg, garlic, parsley, soaked bread, salt and pepper, working it by hand until it holds together. Shape it into one large oval and roll it in flour.

6. 6

   6. After the third hour, add the cabbage, potatoes and pilota, and season the broth with salt. Simmer 30 minutes more.

7. 7

   7. Add both botifarres for the last 10 minutes, so they heat through without bursting.

8. 8

   8. Check that the chickpeas are tender and the meat comes away from the bones. Lift out all the meats and vegetables with a slotted spoon and keep them warm, covered, with a ladle of broth.

9. 9

   9. Strain the broth into a clean pot and bring it back to the boil.

10. 10

    10. Cook the galets in a separate pot of salted water until 2 minutes short of done, drain, and finish them in the boiling broth so the broth does not cloud or reduce.

11. 11

    11. Serve the escudella first: broth and galets in soup plates.

12. 12

    12. Then bring the carn d'olla to the table on a platter: the meats, the pilota and botifarres cut in thick slices, the vegetables, potatoes and chickpeas.