LUIS' CUBAN BLACK BEANS

12:26 PM La Americana 0 Comments Category : beans , black beans , comfort food , Cuba , Cuban food , Cuban recipes , food , quarantine , receta , Recipe

Luis' Cuban Black Beans
Photography by Chia Chong
Styling by Libbie Summers

In this strange age of social distancing, our family, like many others across the world, is tighter than ever before. Homeschooling while working from home can be challenging, yes, but we also have more uninterrupted time to be together. Instead of our normal daily hustle, race to pick the kids up after work, then to taekwondo or basketball, and studying, we have time for us.

We take daily bike rides and play rounds of pingpong, Clue and Uno Flip. Luis and Ana potted sunflowers and Mexican sage, which will bring butterflies to our back porch soon, and planted tomatoes, peppers, summer okra, arugula, sweet onions, watermelon, basil, rosemary and mint in the organic box garden he constructed a few years ago.

As always, Luis continues to cook. Apparently, the rest of country is doing the same. I've had numerous requests for Luis' Cuban black beans recipe.

Why? They're comforting, sublime, healthy, affordable and can feed an army. In my opinion, they're perfect.

So much so, that when a network TV producer asked for a video of Luis cooking a recipe of his choice so that he could shop a show around last year, that's the recipe he shared.

On a deeper level, Luis very much believes that we are what we eat. He considers his greatest legacy to our kids is the food that he cooks for them everyday. And his Cuban black beans are at the top of the list.

Just ask our seven-year-old how she feels about it.

"Daddy's food makes me feel alive!"

Luis' Cuban Black Beans
serves 10-12

Ingredients

2 cups organic dried black beans, picked over and rinsed thoroughly

1 bay leaf

1 large red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded and cut into four pieces (highly recommend roasted peppers, as they give incredible depth and flavor)

4 cloves garlic

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1/2 cup olive oil plus more for drizzling when serving

1 large yellow or Vidalia onion, diced

1 cup red wine

1 tablespoon vinegar (Luis like Bragg Organic Apple Cider)

1 tablespoon sugar

Salt and pepper to taste

6 cups prepared rice (optional for serving)

Directions

In a 6 quart pressure cooker, add the beans, bay leaf, bell pepper and 8 cups of water. Following the manufacturer's directions, cover, lock the lid and cook on high until the pressure kicks in, then lower to a simmer for about 40 minutes. Remove from heat and let rest for 5 minutes before releasing the steam.

While beans are cooking, prepare the sofrito. Mash the garlic with a mortar and pestle (trick: if you add a pinch of salt the garlic won't fly out) and set aside. Add the oil and diced onion to a sauce pan over medium heat. Cook until the onions become translucent (about 5 minutes). Stir in the garlic and cook for an additional 2 minutes.

Blend the sofrito with the beans and return the mix to the stovetop to simmer over medium-low heat for 5 minutes. Stir in the red wine, vinegar and sugar. Remove from heat, cover and let sit for 20 minutes. Add the cumin and salt and pepper to taste.

To serve, ladle beans over rice and drizzle with olive oil.

RECIPE: LUIS’ YOGURT SPONGE CAKE WITH GUAVA PRESERVES

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LUIS' SIMPLE, SUBLIME CAESAR SALAD

12:55 PM La Americana 0 Comments Category : anchovy , Caesar salad , croutons , Cuba , greens , Julia Child , Mexico , Parmesan cheese , recipes , romaine

Luis hand tosses my new favorite Caesar salad

Our 11-year-old son has an aversion to eating anything green. So when he asked for firsts, then seconds of the Caesar salad my husband whipped together a few nights ago, I knew the recipe was special.

As for me, I'm obsessed with it. It's a simple blend of chopped romaine, Parmesan cheese, homemade garlicky croutons and a creamy, bowl-scraping anchovy dressing that is flavorful, but not overpowering.

Crown Prince anchovies make the recipe.

It's quick to throw together, healthy and makes for an exquisite side or main dish.

The recipe is below.

Did you know? The Caesar Salad was invented not in Italy, but Mexico. Or so goes the legend. Supposedly, Italian restauranteur Caesar Cardini owned a spot in Tijuana that catered to Americans looking for escape from Prohibition in 1924. In a pinch in the kitchen, he improvised with ingredients and created the base for what is one of today's culinary staples. But we can thank his brother, Alex, who threw anchovies into the mix two years later and created what Julia Child called "a sensation of a salad from coast to coast."

Ingredients:

6 cloves garlic, peeled, divided

3/4 cup mayonnaise

5 anchovy fillets, minced

6 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese, divided

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon lemon juice

salt and pepper to taste

1/4 cup olive oil

4 cups day-old bread, cubed

1 head romaine lettuce, torn into bite-size pieces

Luis throws the garlic, mayo, anchovies, 2 tablespoons of the Parmesan cheese, Worcestershire, mustard and lemon juice into the Ninja Bullet and blends until creamy. Season to taste with salt and pepper and pop in the fridge until ready to use.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cut the remaining 3 cloves of garlic into quarters and add to hot oil.

Cook and stir until brown, and then remove garlic from the pan. Add bread cubes to the hot oil. Turn frequently until lightly browned. Remove from oil and season to taste.

Place lettuce in a large bowl. Toss with dressing, remaining Parmesan cheese and seasoned bread cubes.

¡Buen provecho!

From the archive:

Claudia Deen talks Venezuela, fitness and bicultural life with Bobby

Nature/Nuture

Cuba Calling! The Luxe New Way to Explore the En Vogue Isle by Private Jet

LUIS' SUPER BOWL STEW aka THE MOTHER OF ALL CUBAN STEWS

2:25 PM La Americana 0 Comments Category : Ajiaco , boniato , Cuba , history , malanga , root vegetables , squash , stew , yuca

Today, Luis’ contribution to our family's Super Bowl Sunday get-together is Ajiaco Cubano, the mother of all Cuban stews. The recipe reels in more than 500 years of the island's history with the use of indigenous root vegetables squash, yuca, boniato and malanga, as well as the Spanish and African additions of plantains, ñame, corn, tomato, cumin, beef, pork and chicken.

It’s a gorgeous, complex and healthy one-pot dish that will literally steal the show every time.

Check out pics, a video and the recipe below:

This is ñame, a versatile root vegetable that is common throughout the Caribbean, West Africa, India and parts of Asia. It's part of the yam family, but I think the mild taste of the tuber falls somewhere between a potato and turnip. Below, Luis shows you how to peel it.

Ingredients:

Two tablespoons of vegetable oil

½ cup of olive oil

1 cup of white wine

Spoonful of tomato paste

Meat

2 lbs. bone-in drumsticks
3 lbs. pork chunks, cut into 3-inch cubes
3 lbs. beef tenderloin (Luis had the upgraded meat from the holidays in the freezer and thawed it out, but you can use any type of beef)

2 thick slices of bacon

Veggies

1 pound boniato, peeled and cut into 1-inch squares
1 pound malanga, peeled and cut into 1-inch squares
1 pound yucca, cut into 1-inch rounds (Luis used the frozen, peeled variety from Publix)

1 pound ñame (in the grocery's Latin section), peeled and quartered
1 ear corn, cut into 2-inch rounds
2 large green plantains, peeled and cut into 1-inch squares
2 large yellow plantains, peeled and cut into 1-inch squares
1 pound Calabaza (also called West Indian squash), peeled, seeded and cut into 1-inch cubes
2 green bell peppers, seeded and cut into thin strips

½ red pepper, seeded and cut into thin strips

Handful of parsley, finely chopped

Handful of cilantro, finely chopped

¼ cup loosely packed fresh culantro (you can find in Latin markets), finely chopped

1 medium tomato, cut in quarters

10 large garlic cloves, peeled and smashed with a mortar and pestle
5 teaspoons ground cumin
½ cup sour orange juice (in the Latin section)
1 large white onion, cut into thick strips
5 cachucha peppers (also known as ajies dulces in Latin markets), left whole

Salt, pepper and lime juice to taste

How to make it:

Boil chicken in 8 cups of water for about 30 minutes. Pour in the sour orange juice and set aside.

Warm one tablespoon of vegetable oil on low heat and cook the bacon for about 15 minutes.

Luis handed the bacon off to the kids for lunch, then added another tablespoon of vegetable oil to the pan, along with the onion, green and red peppers and garlic to make the sofrito. He then cooked all on medium low for about 5 minutes or until bubbling.

Next, you should blend in the tomato paste, the tomato and the olive oil. Pour this mix into the pot with the chicken and its natural broth.

Salt and pepper the pork and sear it in a little olive oil in the pan where the bacon was until the pork is golden. This should take about about 8-10 minutes on high heat while moving constantly. Add the beef and stir together for another couple of minutes. Pour the white wine in and add the cumin. To this pot, add the chicken mix and remaining vegetables and herbs to the pot and salt.

Let the stew thicken over medium low heat for about 40 minutes. Taste for a balance of salty and sweet and adjust accordingly.

Ladle the stew into individual bowls and give a good squeeze of of lime juice over each serving. Pair it with a chunk of Cuban bread and you've got yourself a Super Bowl winner.

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