Cuban red beans-frijoles colorados

6 Servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
1 pounds Red Kidney bean or Pink
Beans -- Rinsed/picked over
And soaked overnight -- (or
Quick method)
¼ cup Olive oil
2 4 slices
4 Cloves minced fine garlic
1 Onion -- finely chopped
1 Green bell pepper -- finely
Chopped
1 cup Tomato sauce
1 tablespoon Red wine vinegar
½ cup Dry sherry
¼ 1/2 t
1 pinch Salt & Pepper
3 quarts Water -- for soaking beans
1 Bay leaf
Bacon
Sp. dried oregano

Directions

1. To the beans and their soaking water, add a bay leaf. Bring to a boil over high heat, cover, turn off heat, and let sit for one hour quick cook method. Or, soak beans over night first. After one hour, simmer until the beans are tender, add more water if needed. 2. Prepare a "sofrito" which is the basis of a lot of Cuban cooking as follows: Heat the olive oil in a medium size skillet over low heat. Add the bacon, garlic, onion, and bell pepper. Reduce heat to low, and cook, stirring, until the vegetables are tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Add the tomato sauce, vinegar, sherry, oregano, salt and pepper, and cook stirring until thickened, 10 to 15 additional minutes. 3. When the beans are tender, add the sofrito you made in step 2, stir to blend, and cook over medium heat an additional 30 minutes or until the consistency is thick and rich (like pork n beans). Lower heat if necessary. Be careful the beans don't stick to the bottom of the pot and burn. Add more water if beans thicken too much during the cooking process.

Discard the bay leaf and serve the beans with white long grain rice. Note: I modified the recipe to save $, fat, and time. The original recipe calls for ¼ pound slab bacon, cut into ¼-inch dice, and ½ pound boneless pork, cut into small dice (optional ingredient). Both ingredients are cooked as a part of step two. Also, there is an additional bell pepper, which I omitted, in the recipe that is diced fine, and soaked over night with the beans and one bay leaf. This recipe is delicious served with BBQ chicken, pork roast, pork ribs, etc., or simply with rice. The red wine vinegar and "dry" sherry mellow and give the beans a wonderful flavor. I use Balsamic red wine vinegar. Enyoy! Recipe By : MsSailor

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