Dried fruit with cured pork is an old Iberian pairing and a very good one: the fruit goes savoury and jammy against the salt and the fat, and it thickens the sauce as it collapses.
Apricots rather than prunes, which is the traditional fruit here, for the unglamorous reason that far more people have a bag of dried apricots in the cupboard. They are sharper than prunes and hold their shape a little better, so the sauce ends up brighter and less treacly.
- Chorizo sliced thin. Cold pan, barely any oil, five minutes until the coins curl and the pan is deep red. Lift out.
- Dried onion into the fat for three minutes, then garlic and paprika for twenty seconds.
- Tomatoes and the halved apricots in. Cook down 15 minutes: the apricots will soften and start to fray, which is what you want.
- Butter beans with half their liquid. Simmer 12 minutes, crushing a few.
- Chorizo back in for two minutes, vinegar off the heat.
No salt until the very end, if at all. Chorizo, paprika and bean liquid between them almost always have it covered.
Serves 4.