Cuban Black Beans

It's time to break out my Great Grandma Cooper's Club hammered aluminum pot.  I love this pot, it's old and it's beat, and it's a great piece of cookware. It's my go-to pot for certain recipes such as stuffed peppers, pot roast and dry beans. When I use this pot not only do I have the pleasure of making some wonderful slow cooked dish, but I also love to think of all the great things made in this pot generations before I was born.

Enough with the nostalgia though, today I want to talk about beans, specifically the use of dry beans.  Beans are a low calorie, low fat, super budget friendly source of many key nutrients that our bodies need.  So it's good to get more beans into your diet.  Some people have issues digesting beans, but there are things you can do while preparing beans that will help minimize these issues, such making sure your drain the soaking water.  Also as beans are gradually added to the diet, many people will find their bodies adjust to the consumption of beans. If you are not one of these people, it may be worth using a dietary supplement of digestive enzymes to allow you to get this nutrient rich food into your diet.

Many people walk down the bean isle of the store and never even consider buying the dried beans in the bag.  The process of soaking and cooking them seems to be very tedious and time consuming, especially when you can just pick up canned beans and be on your way.  I know how it is, but more and more I am taking the time for the dried beans. This is because the taste and texture are tremendously better. Plus it may seem that the process is time consuming, but really most of it is hands-off time, meaning you can soak beans overnight and not even feel the chunk of time.  Personally, I like the quick soak method which allows me to decide on beans in the morning and have them on the table at dinner time. A 1lb bag of dry beans makes a good amount of beans.  I have taken to making a batch and freezing half of it for future use.

One of my new favorite bean recipes is Cuban black beans.

Cuban Black Beans

1lb dry black beans
1 vidalia onion, diced (divided)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 green pepper, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced (divided)
2 tablespoons vinegar
2 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped

Thoroughly rinse the beans and look them over removing any small pebbles and/or shriveled beans. Put the beans in a large pot, add half of the diced onion and cover with 4 cups water.  Cover and heat to boiling, boil for 3 minutes.  Remove from heat and let stand for at least on hour.  Drain all the water and keep the beans in the pot.

In a small frying pan, saute the remaining onion and green pepper in 1 tablespoon olive oil for about 5 minutes, or until the onion is soft.  Add 1/2 the garlic and cook another minute or so.  Then add the onion mixture to the beans in the pot. Add enough water to cover the beans plus about and inch. Heat over medium high heat until the water begins to boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for about an hour.

At this point, stir in the vinegar, olive oil, half the cilantro and the rest of the garlic. Continue to cook for another hour and a half, or until the beans are tender. Stir in the salt and garnish with the remaining cilantro.