Cuba

Here’s the recap of last night’s Cuban-inspired dinner. Overall it was a success (albeit a dinner-at-9:30 kind of success… that’s when they eat in Havana, right?) I underestimated the availability of family members to assist with chopping, and there was a lot of chopping.

On the menu was Cuban-style Gingered Chicken; Frijoles Negras (from the Best International Recipe book; more about that later); Mango and Avocado Salad (same cookbook); white rice; salsa & chips. I’m not going to vouch for Cuban authenticity here. The MT cites the National Chicken Council for the chicken recipe - I'd say they've got some credibility issues, but I will save the factory-farm discussion for a time when we're not talking about food. And a Puerto Rican friend taught me how to make the salsa. I just thought it sounded like it would all go well together and general consensus was that it did. Everybody (self, spouse, 20 year old son and two 12 year old girls) liked the chicken a lot, although the boy thought it was maybe a little too sweet. But the surprise sleeper hit of the evening was the beans.

You need to be aware of my deep and abiding love for Cook’s Illustrated. I’ve never subscribed to the magazine, but I was sold on their New Best Recipe cookbook with the first recipe I tried. After 25 years of fiddling around with dozens of chocolate chip cookie recipes, I found the holy grail in their Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies. They were big and soft and delicious, a lot like the kind they sell at cookie stores. And they retain those qualities even after three or four days (the only way I could keep some around long enough to find this out was to stash a few at the back of the canned goods cabinet, behind the sauerkraut).

The cookies are just one example. Everything I’ve tried since from the book has been well worth the effort PLUS – and this is really a huge plus for a kitchen geek such as myself – every recipe comes with a thorough explanation of why it works. They tell you about different possible ingredients and methods and what they do or don’t do for the final product. Some of this explanation goes on for two or three pages. You can skip it if you want, but I eat it up. They offer variations and alternatives, such as Thin, Crisp Chocolate Chip Cookies (honestly, there is no accounting for taste.)

So a couple of Christmases ago my son Nik, who had heard me sing the praises of this cookbook, presented me with what was then a new title from the same folks, The Best International Recipe book . I don’t know what took me so long to finally crack that book open and try it out but those are some fine Frijoles Negras they’ve got in there. And they even tell you about putting in a dash of baking soda so they don’t turn gray. So: buy that book, make that recipe.

Unfortunately my plans for the Avocado and Mango Salad were thwarted by the certain knowledge that dicing mangoes was going to take too much time (really, 9:30 is about my limit for dinnertime). However, the book does advise the cook to go out and buy an Oxo Mango Splitter to aid in the process and I think I may just do that before I mess around any more with mangoes.

Here’s my homemade fresh salsa recipe. It is very similar to the fresh salsa they sell at Quality Market in Medford, (and it will only cost about $2.00 a pint - and way less if you grow your own tomatoes, obviously - instead of $5.99, not that I don’t want to support our local grocer, but…).

5 or 6 tomatoes, seeded
½ red bell pepper
½ yellow bell pepper
½ red onion
1 Anaheim chili pepper
1 jalapeno pepper (more or less, as you like it – we like it a little spicy)
2 cloves garlic
juice of 1 or 2 limes
1/3 C chopped cilantro
salt to taste

Mince the jalapeno and the garlic. Chop up the tomatoes, the other peppers, and onion into small to fine dice (as you prefer) by hand with a sharp knife (seriously, you’ll just get soup if you use a food processor). Mix it all up with the lime juice and cilantro, unless you have someone in the house like I do who hates cilantro, in which case you can have it on the side. Season with salt. We like to eat this with Juanita’s chips – which you should get at Quality Market, since you won’t be buying their salsa anymore.

I seem to be running about a day behind with my postings. I hope I get the hang of this soon.

post-script: The leftover beans together with a little queso fresco made an excellent omelette filling a couple of days later when topped with some of the salsa and cilantro.