Cuban food is my comfort food. As a stereotypical Cuban, I love black beans and rice, pork, more pork, garlic, onions, and sweet coffee. Because much Cuban food is heavy on starch and sugar, my family ate significantly less of it once my mother was diagnosed with Type II Diabetes. In the colder months, like everyone else, I feel inclined to bulk up by eating heavier meals, so I eat a lot of pork chops with some type of rice or another.
The rice dish I'm posting here comes straight from my abuela's kitchen to you...kind of. My maternal grandmother, then my mother both cooked the many of their Cuban meals from the same cookbook
Cocina Criolla. The book is written by
Nitza Villapol who is considered the "Julia Child" of Cuba because of her ability to communicate the art Cuban cooking to the at home cook. She had a TV show from 1951-1997, and though the show was censored in 1991 at the start of the
Special Period in Cuba, when it was re-initiated, Nitza showed Cubans how to cook their cuisine despite the rationing of food. I was given my copy of the Cuban classic
Cocina al Minuto (
Cook to Order) a few years ago, but I don't cook from it very often because it's written in Spanish and sometimes I'm just too lazy to spend time translating recipes.
A week ago, I bought a huge amount of okra, and on one of the first coldish days we've had this fall I was inspired to make a HUGE batch of Arroz con quimbombo. I ate it with fried pork chops topped with mojo, which is sliced onion, soaked in sour orange juice, then softened in a huge amount of olive oil. Also, many Cuban meals are accompanied with a raw banana, a tradition that I love.
Arroz con Quimbombo (adapted from Cocina al minuto)
olive oil, salt, pepper
1 bell pepper, diced
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, diced
1/2 pound thinly sliced ham, diced
1 12oz can of diced tomatoes
2 cups of rice + 2 cups beer+ 2 cups water
1 pound okra, washed and cut into 1 inch slices
juice from two limes
3 cups of water
1. Add the lime juice to 3 cups of water, then add the sliced okra. This step is supposed to make the okra less slimy. This preparation does work but it's not necessary if the sliminess of okra doesn't bother you.
2. Heat a large pot over medium heat, add enough olive oil to coat the bottom, then add the onions and peppers first, cook until the onions are soft, then add the garlic and ham and cook until you can smell the garlic. Add the sliced okra and cook it with the sofrito and ham for 5 minutes to let the okra absorb some flavor.
aaaaaaaaaaaSofrito, the base of Cuban cooking, is onions, bell pepper, and garlic sauteed in olive oil. 3. Add the canned tomatoes with liquid, the beer, and water, salt, pepper and bring to a boil. Then add the 2 cups of rice, bring the mixture back to a boil, cover, turn to low and cook for 30 minutes.
4. When I cook rice, I cook it for the allotted time, then I turn it off and let it sit for 5 to 10 minutes. This allows the rice to continue cooking for a bit longer but also cool off.
5. Serve with some type of pork and a raw banana.
I went to Baltimore this past weekend to visit a fellow foodie, and instead of staying in the city to enjoy the local fare we left the city...Well, we tried to to leave and make it to our reservation at VOLT at 12pm in Frederick, Maryland, but we ended up stuck for an hour in front of Howard St waiting for the Baltimore marathon runners to finish. If you're not in the food loop, VOLT is the brain child of Bryan Voltaggio, from Top Chef: Las Vegas. In 2009, VOLT received a James Beard Nomination for Best New Restaurant, however since it is located in Frederick, Maryland (ie the middle of nowhere) the price was rock bottom for four excellent courses plus a beverage pairing for each course. I can confidently say it was the best $40 I've so far spent on food.
shiitake velouté pinenut sabayon, chili oil, opal basil
tuscarora farm organic beets cherry glen farm goat cheese, upland cress
cheese course from artisanal creameries 
textures of chocolate dark chocolate ganache, chocolate caramel, raw organic cocoa 
