Cool Beans, Cuban Style
I've been eating beans since before eating beans was cool
Have you heard? Beans are cool. On TikTok, the hashtag #beans turns up over half a million views. Rancho Gordo, purveyor of heirloom beans in Napa, California, has a 36,000 person long waitlist for its bean subscriptions. And Grubhub reported that bean orders from grocery stores increased a whopping 135 percent last year.
With food prices continuing to increase, no wonder beans have gained popularity. They provide a rich source of protein at a low cost and their long shelf life compared to pretty much every other type of protein means few beans go to waste, saving money. In addition, these whole foods are unprocessed and often unpackaged (every bulk store carries at least one or two varieties of dried beans); they consume fewer resources to produce than other proteins and improve the soil; and they taste delicious. So I cook lots of them, including today’s recipe, Cuban-Style Black Beans.
(Go here for instructions on how to cook various dried beans, currently my most popular post by far. I told you beans were cool!)
Cuban-Style Black Beans
Cooked beans will work, but this dish tastes even better if you begin with dry beans and cook them as directed below, with bay leaves, green bell pepper and onion. While the beans cook, prepare a sofrito, a mixture of aromatics cooked slowly in oil over low heat. Used in Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Latin American and Mediterranean cooking, a sofrito infuses your beans with rich flavor.
I used to soak and drain my beans religiously. Now, I cook them in the soaking water to add taste. As you conserve resources, you learn how to coax flavors out of everything. And that makes cooking more creative and more fun!
