This is a very simple, family-style meal called escudella de mongetes I carbassa, which literally means “big bowl of beans and squash.” It is quite representative of traditional Catalan home cooking in that it is actually rather bland most of the flavor coming from the meat. It’s an attractive dish, and looks very white. To spice it up for contemporary American tastes, all you need to do is add freshly ground black pepper, which I have left out of the ingredients list to maintain authenticity. A tablespoon would be about right. Traditionally; a Catalan cook would throw a whole cooked or cured ham bone in the stew you can replicate the same by using a prosciutto bone.