Beans are going in the pressure cooker....time to make the sofrito, and keepin it real!

You make the sofrito (the trinity)  add tomato sauce to it, a couple bay leaves, salt, and pepper.

Black beans go into the pressure cooker along with some roasted green pepper, bay leave, and fat back.

The diced roasted green pepper.  G just roasted it right on the stove burner.

The fat back sliced into small pieces.





When the beans are done add them to the sofrito.


Now they are ready to cover and go into the oven for 30-40 minutes.

By now  the kitchen is a real mess!!!!!

But the food is going to be real yummy!!!!

Later,

J

Black Beans From Scratch For Tina

Ingredients:

1 12-14 oz. bag of dried black beans

2 medium size green peppers

2 medium size yellow onions

1 small ham hock

4-6 cloves of garlic

2 bay leaves

2 teaspoons of oregano

2 teaspoons of cumin

1/2 cup olive oil

Salt & pepper to taste

2 teaspoons Apple Cider vinegar

2 teaspoons of granulated sugar

The night before you cook the black beans, put them in your pot, rinse them with water once, and then cover them with water to soak overnight. As you can see I forgot to take the picture of the black beans in the bag the night before, oh well, sorry........anyway. The next morning place one seeded and cut in half green pepper, along with 1 teaspoon of dried oregano, and the ham hock in your pot. Bring to boil and cook for 1 hour until the beans soften. If you have to add more water, go ahead. You want the beans covered plus a little more.

I cover my pot like this, turn down the heat to medium and cook for 1 hour.



After the hour is up, test the beans to see if they have softened, not too too soft, there's still more cooking time and the will be just soft enough when you finish.



While the beans are cooking you can dice up your 2 onions, 1 green pepper, and 6 cloves of garlic.

Put enough olive oil in a skillet to cover the bottom.

Add the diced onion and green pepper and for about 5 minutes, and then add the garlic and continue cooking about another 5 minutes.


Pour your trinity into the pot of beans, add 2 bay leaves, 1 teaspoon of dried oregano, and 2 teaspoons of cumin. Add salt and pepper to taste. I add approximately 5 teaspoons of salt, and about 15 turns of my pepper mill.


Cook for another 30 minutes or so. You want the beans to finish cooking and the flavors to blend together. You also want the liquid to thicken a bit, so cook it on medium with the top off. Stir and stir.

Note: Remember the two secret ingredients. Just add 2 teaspoons of Apple Cider vinegar, and 2 teaspoons of sugar, and stir. Add them the last 15 minutes.



Serve on top of white rice or yellow rice, with steak, chicken, pork or fish.



Please keep in mind that I do most of my cooking without measuring cups or spoons, unless it absolutely necessary. So, you can tweak this recipe to your own taste. I know cooks who sautee pork loin chunks in olive oil and then add them to the beans, and it is just delicious. You can double the recipe in order to have enough beans to freeze. One more thing, the beans are always better the second day. So please don't judge me until you are eating them the second time.

I hope you like this recipe and please email me (after the second day, lol) if you have any questions.

I Wish You Love and Good Frijoles Negro,

Mimi J

"Gonna let you in on a little secret."

Just thought I'd let you in on two little secret ingredients for "Black Beans". If you buy black beans in the can, which I do all the time, don't by the seasoned ones, because they are so much better when you season them yourself. All you have to do is put a little olive oil in the bottom of a pan, throw in some diced onion, green pepper, and garlic,(which by the way is the Cuban Trinity), cook it a few minutes. Add a pinch of cumin and dried oregano, the canned beans and salt and pepper to taste, bring to a boil, turn down to low, and the secret is to add one teaspoon of "sugar" and one teaspoon, of "Apple Cider Vinegar", put a top on it, and let it simmer for fifteen minutes, and you're done. And the taste is wonderful.

And that's the secret and I'm stickin' to it.

Con Mucho Amor!!!!
With a lot of Love,
Mimi

Noche Buena

This is what my husband and I cook every Christmas Eve (Noche Buena) translated it means Night Good, or The Good Night. It is a traditional Cuban Christmas Eve meal. Roasted Pig, usually a whole pig, the old timers cooked them in the ground. Nowadays the pig is cooked in the oven or in a "caja china", or Chinese box. Moros & Christianos, ( translated means Moors & Christians), black beans and rice cooked together. Yuca, or cassava root, and Cuban bread. We had already eaten when I decided I would post some pics of our meal. I can't show you the picture of the pork roast because we devoured it by the time I decided to do this. As you can see we didn't touch the bread because first of all, we wouldn't of had room, but second and most important, the bread is for the Cuban sandwich tomorrow. You cut the bread like a sub, then stuff it with heated diced pork meat, diced onion, sprinkle a little of that mojo that you see in the picture on it. It is delicioso!!!!! It's like the after Thanksgiving turkey sandwich. You know that's what you'll eat the day after.

This old cast iron kettle is the BOMB for cooking the beans and rice because you cook them in the oven.

Here you have the cuban bread and the mojo. Mojo is the marinade used on the pork. See that humongous avocado that we grow here in Miami? When it ripens we will eat it with the beans and rice. The pork with probably be gone by then. The plantain is also good with this dish.


Take Care and Merry Christmas Eve to All.
Loveee, Joyce