Braised Inexperienced Beans in Smoky Tomato Sauce —and the city of Sant Mateu

March 5, 2026

Natacha Sanz Caballero

Greens, Occasions & Journey
judías con tomate, lunch, pueblos de España, sides, Spanish delicacies, Spanish cities, verduras

The climate has been extremely chilly and snowy this winter throughout a lot of the US (even in Florida!). And it’s not over but! February simply ended, so there might be even some extra snow and chilly temperatures in retailer for us. In these climate situations, there are some meals that I crave: soups, stews, and wealthy, filling greens, like this braised greens beans in smoky tomato sauce that’s so idiosyncratically Spanish, it virtually transports me there.

Borrull Palace, Sant Mateu

You’ll be able to eat it as an accompaniment to any grilled fish, rooster or meat, however you may also have it as a hearty lunch, scooping up the scrumptious tomato sauce with items of crusty bread. Yum!

This chilly winter is making me lengthy for summer time, and though it’s nonetheless a number of months away (we simply began the season of Lent!), I wish to dream of it by writing in regards to the stunning city of Sant Mateu —San Mateo in Spanish, Saint Matthew in English—to accompany the recipe of braised beans with smoky tomato sauce.

Sant Mateu is situated within the province of Castellón, Spain, and I’ve to confess that I hadn’t heard of this city till final summer time, after I found it virtually by likelihood. The rationale that introduced me there was some authorities enterprise I needed to take care of on the Workplace of the Registrar, situated in Sant Mateu.

My husband and I drove there early within the morning, hoping to complete the enterprise that introduced us there rapidly and return to Alcocebre, the seashore city the place we have been staying. The assembly was brief, as we had hoped, and we determined to enterprise into city for a espresso earlier than driving again residence. We ended up spending the remainder of the morning there! And we didn’t keep longer as a result of our son was ready for us again residence on the seashore. 

Driving to Sant Mateu by El Maestrat

View of Sant Mateu

We occurred to reach into the middle of city as they have been making ready to have a good time their summer time competition, in honor of Our Girl of the Assumption. It wasn’t straightforward to seek out parking within the streets close to the Central Sq., and we quickly came upon why: the subsequent day there was going to be a working of the bulls by the streets, so each residence that lined the streets was being boarded up, and the streets closed off with fences.

Finally, we discovered parking and walked over a Roman bridge to the Central Sq.. It was a stunning porticated sq., lined by bars, eating places and cafés. As is frequent in Spain, folks have been sitting at each desk outdoors every locale, having fun with drinks, tapas and dialog. The sq., roundish in form, was adorned with festive flags and left open as a makeshift bull ring for the festivities. For sure, we couldn’t discover a place to sit down. By no means thoughts, we thought, let’s discover the city a bit extra.

The Convent of the Augustinian Nuns, Sant Mateu

Archpriestal Church of Sant Mateu

Geography and Landmarks

Sant Mateu is the historic capital of the area referred to as El Maestrat (El Maestrazgo in Spanish) inside the province of Castellón, within the Valencian Group. Visiting Sant Mateu appears like touring to the Center Ages. Actually, Sant Mateu shone in the course of the 14th and fifteenth centuries, by which the exportation of wool to Florence remodeled the city into an important business, livestock, artisanal and inventive middle. The splendor is mirrored in its spectacular historic and inventive heritage, encompassing the Archpriestal Church (courting from the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries), as majestic as a cathedral. Its cobblestone streets have been walked on by the masters of the Order of Montessa and its knights.

Sant Mateu‘s previous instances are represented in its monuments, museums, and historic middle, which along with greater than 50 km of marked mountain climbing trails, make it a robust attraction for the off-the-beaten-path vacationer. Add to that its gastronomy, with its excellent extra-virgin olive oil from the millenary olive bushes of the native selection Farga. 

Palace of the Marquis of Villores, Sant Mateu

Different landmarks of Sant Mateu embody:

• The medieval oven (14th century) and the City Corridor (fifteenth century), two stunning examples of Valencian Gothic civil structure
• The Borrull Palace (fifteenth century), separated from the City Corridor by the Jewish Alleyway. 
• The city partitions (14th century)
• The Pla de la Mare de Deu de la Font, the Sq. of the Girl of the Fountain (fifteenth century)
• Saint Peter’s Church (13–18th century)
• The medieval dungeons (fifteenth century) 
• The Convent of the Augustinian nuns (16–18th century)
• The Palace of the Marquis of Villores (sixteenth century), a stupendous instance of renaissance structure
• You’ll be able to’t miss a go to to the Sanctuary of La Mare de Deu dels Angels (our Girl of the Angels). Relationship from the sixteenth–18th century, it’s located on the prime of a mountain, about 2.5 km from Sant Mateu, the place you possibly can get pleasure from the fantastic thing about the church and the panoramic view over Sant Mateu within the Maestrazgo area

Sant Mateu’s Most important Sq.

A  little bit of historical past

The origins of Sant Mateu return to earlier than the conquest of the area by King James I, who gave it to the Order of the Knights of the Hospital. In 1237, Hugo de Follalquer granted the city constitution to Saint Matthew. In 1319, in the course of the reign of James II, Sant Mateu turned a part of the Order of the Knights of Montesa, and was the residence of its Grand Masters, changing into the capital of the Maestrazgo. 

Because of its political significance, Sant Mateu performed a notable historic function, on condition that the parliament of the dominion was held there 5 instances between the 14th and fifteenth centuries. Vital personalities that visited the city included Saint Vincent, Pope Clement VIII, King Philip II and Pope Benedict XIII. An important historic occasion occurred on the Archpriestal Church of Sant Mateu, when Pope Clement VIII, the successor of Pope Benedict XIII, renounced the papacy, ending the schism within the Western Church.

Museums

Sant Mateu has 4 museums:

• The Native Historical past Museum, situated within the Palace Borrull

• The Paleontology Museum Juan Cano Forner, thought-about a very powerful paleontology assortment within the Valencian Group.
• The Parochial Museographic  Assortment, situated inside the monumental website of the Archpriestal Church
• The Assortment of Fashions of Historic Monuments of the Valencian Group.

Mountaineering

Mountaineering and strolling for all ages and ranges of problem are offered by the greater than 50 kilometers of marked trails, that permit the customer to get pleasure from Sant Mateu’s agricultural panorama of millenary olive tree groves. In case you’re excited about oleoturism and enoturism, you possibly can benefit from the services of those native corporations:

Sant Clement olive oil mill

Varona La Vella Olive Oil

Bessalduch Valls & Bellmunt Vineyard

Festivities

Sant Mateu celebrates various festivities all year long. We occurred to be there in the course of the festivities of its patron saint, in mid-August. Different festivities embody the Feast of Saint Anthony in January, the Holy Week processions of Holy Week and Easter, the Feast of Our Girl of the Angels, which occurs after Easter, and the Feast of Saint Matthew in July. This explicit feast dates from the Center Ages, and its central attraction is the medieval market.

Gastronomy

We’ve got talked about Sant Mateu’s distinctive extra-virgin olive oil, which is utilized in most of their dishes, conventional cooking of their ancestors, characterised by the presence of the merchandise of the land, together with meats, mushrooms, and herbs. A standard dish of Sant Mateu is the olleta de San Mateu, a stew that features a number of the native merchandise For dessert, the almond confectioneries of medieval origin referred to as pastissets and primetes.

This summer time, we’ll go to Sant Mateu once more, this time with our sons and different relations, however out of enjoyment and never for any authorities associated enterprise, even when I’ve to thank the enterprise journey final summer time for our discovery of this stunning city.

For braised inexperienced beans with smoky tomato sauce, be sure you use the perfect inexperienced beans you could find, and should you make it at the moment of 12 months, when tomatoes are usually not in season, use an excellent canned tomato —I used to be fortunate to nonetheless have some jars of preserved tomatoes from my backyard! As for the oil, evidently, use a high-quality olive oil, ideally from Spain.

Hold heat and Comfortable cooking! 

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