Black Beans & Rice
Serve up these deeply flavored Cuban-style beans with a pile of perfectly cooked white rice. Add a salad or some veggies and you’ve got the Dinosaur vegetarian platter.
In many Spanish-speaking countries a sofrito is used as a base for many sauces. It’s usually made up of various chopped vegetables fried in oil.
Recipe information
Yield
feeds 4 to 6
Ingredients
The Beans
The Sofrito
The Finish
The Accoutrement
Preparation
Step 1
Sort through the beans and pull out any little stones or shriveled beans. Rinse the good beans and toss them into a large saucepan. Add 2 cups of the water, the onions, peppers, garlic, bay leaf, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Turn the heat up to high and bring to a boil. Cover the pan, cracking the lid a bit, and turn the heat down to low. Simmer for 2 to 2 1/2 hours, adding the remaining water, 1 cup at a time, as it is absorbed by the beans. When they’re done, the beans will give off a luscious black “gravy.”
Step 2
Grab a small saucepan for the sofrito (see note), and place it over medium heat. Add the oil. Toss in the onions and peppers, seasoning them with a pinch of salt and pepper. Once they’re soft, add the garlic and cook another minute.
Step 3
Dump the sofrito into the cooked beans. Pull out the bay leaf and finish the dish by stirring in the cumin, oregano, salt, brown sugar, vinegar, Tabasco, and sherry. Serve with a batch of Perfect Rice.
