Barcelona and Butifarra

20 years ago I spent 6 weeks in Spain with my family on a church missions trip.

I remember that pastry. It was like a Boston cream pie croissant. So good!

My dad and I. Check out his shoes and socks. Aren't they rad?

So...we spent our time in Barcelona and the surrounding towns and cities. I would love to go back as an adult. Being only 9 when we traveled there, my memories are few. I do remember the food though. There are a few meals that really stick out to me. One was a paella that was cooked outside by a gypsy over an open flame. I don't know what all was in it, but I remember how GOOD it was. The other dish that we had quite a few times was Butifarra and beans. Butifarra is a sausage that is practically unheard of here in the States. It's a basic white sausage, not much to it...meat, salt & pepper.  What makes it special is the type of pork that it's made from. Since we don't have it readily available here, I went with a beef smoked sausage instead.

Throw the sausage on a grill for a few minutes on each side. It's already cooked so this is just to heat it up and get some smoke flavor in.

In a skillet, heat 1/4 cup of olive oil. Add 3 cloves of garlic (pressed or minced) and saute for about 2 minutes. Add 1 can of Cannellini beans and saute those for about 5 minutes.

Next, add fresh spinach leaves. I used a 10oz bag.  Let them wilt as you stir them in with the beans.

To serve, place the spinach & beans on a plate. Slice up the sausage on top and enjoy!

It was really delicious and full of flavor.

 The original recipe that I had in Spain didn't have spinach and it had a lot more beans than my dish.The beans were almost creamy and soupy.  I'm definitely going to try this again with a pork sausage and more beans, but this version definitely got a thumbs up!