Food so good, you need to ask for forgiveness.

Well it's Tuesday, just a few days to get all my ingredients for my delicious dish of Ropa Vieja for my Cuban dish party. I cannot wait. Every time I think about how wonderful it's going to be my mouth starts watering. All those slow cooked dishes... It's sinful. Cuban's have mastered the art of making food divine in two very spectacular methods. The first (I'm making it first because this is how the dish I'm making... is made) is slow cooking. It is this art of putting all the most savory ingredients in a pot (or crock pot) and letting them do the cooking nasty all day till it's like tasty velvet. It's WONDERFUL! You can't go wrong, and unless you cook it for days you can't burn it, it just gets smoother and yummier. It looks a little scary I will admit but you quickly forgive the appearance once you taste it. Just pour over some rice and devour, I mean it! If it wasn't frowned upon to shove food in your face with your bare hands I would with Ropa Vieja... Oh how I would.

Now the second method is a very true and very Cuban method of making sure whatever it is you are cooking has the utmost delicious factor. It's the thought that if you smoosh something as flat as it can go the taste will reach it's most delicious potential. I was always amazed at how wide my Abuelita's dinner plates were. Now I realize that it wasn't because it was due to us receiving so much food, we got the same size dinner as anyone else was getting served by there families, but rather our food was so wide and so flat. The flatness seemed to bring out the rich garlic flavors and Caribbean feel to all our favorite dishes. It's the kind of food that makes you moan in happiness when you can smell it coming from the kitchen.

I figured something fun for my favorite readers would be to give you a couple great recipes to try out at home. Of course this is assuming I have readers...

First comes to you from my Abuelita's cook book.

Congri

• 1 16oz can black beans
• 1 small onion (my grandmother used white, I like sweet yellow)
• 1/2 green pepper (I also like to add yellow and red peppers) seeded and cut into strips or chunks.
• 2 garlic BULBS browned in olive oil.
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp sugar
• 2 cups water
• 2 cups rice

Blend everything together when the water begins to boil. Cover and cook for 30minutes.
On a side note, I like to add bacon too, it gives it a good extra "umph".

Tostones by Hector Rodriguez 

• 2 green plantains
• oil for frying
• salt

1. Heat oil to 350
2. While the oil is heating up, peel the green plantains and cut into 3/4' slices.
3. Fry the slices in the hot oil for 3 mins. They should be a light golden color and semi-soft.
4. Remove the plantain slices with a slotted spoon and drain on a paper towel.
5. When the plantain slices are cool enough to handle (about 1 minute), smash them into flat rounds.
6. Fry the rounds in the hot oil for 3 minutes. They will turn crisp and golden brown.
7. Remove tostones with the slotted spoon and drain them on a paper towel. Salt to taste.

ENJOY!

Is Cuba too taboo?

I feel like I should start out by giving you a little history lesson about your favorite 'eyed traveler. I keep trying to come up with a great means of telling you about my family and the gorgeous culture I come from, but I thought a quick story from my grandmother's journal (that my aunt translated for me) would be much more fascinating.

In1925 the Spanish government wrote to Don Berriz Negrini  telling him they planned to auction his ancestral home in Spain but before doing so they wanted to offer him the chance to take back the Title of Marquis, the land, and home because he was the direct descendant. He turned it down, and decided to stay in Havana. Havana is were he had his wine store called "La Vina" (the vineyard). He ran it with his sons and later opened another location which his son ran for him


So there you have it, I'm Cuban, I come from a rich and exciting back ground with thousands of stories about incredible men and women, some brave, some just brilliant. So imagine my total joy when word of of mouth reached my waiting ears and I was told that we might be able to plan a tour there. The excitement made me explode. I started doing research, I watched so many documentaries that my boyfriend had to ground me from them. I was so, excited! There's just no other word for the feeling I had. 


But, unfortunately I found that the red tape one had to cross to take a tour group to this gorgeous place was just too much. I felt deflated and just sad. There is a lot about this country that is wonderful and hypnotizing. The whole island is like being taken to a beautiful time capsule, the cars are these amazing cruisers like you see in car shows. The architecture is brilliantly preserved true art deco from the 40's and 50's. And the food... Oh my god the food is so dynamic it is pure decadence. It's all this passionately cooked, slow roasted so the flavors come together in beautiful melody. There's nothing like it. And what is interesting about food cooked in Cuba is none of it is imported, it's ALL organic and all locally grown. It's just savory and delicious, for those of you who haven't tried a real Cuban dish (I'm not talking about something called a Cuban dish in a multi cultural ritzy cafe, I'm talking about a hole in the wall where the men play domino's on the patio) then you are missing out on one of the greatest pleasures in life.


I huffed and puffed about how sad I was that I wasn't going to be able to share my love for my families culture. And as stubborn as I am I decided NAY, I will not sit back and let a little set back like not being able to book tours to this gorgeous island hold me back. If I can't take the masses to Cuba, I will take them to my kitchen! I broke out some good old fashion Cuban recipes and come next Friday, I'm going to have people come to my home for a wonderful night of dining. Just like the Paladares in Havana I'm opening up my home for people to come and taste some of the most exquisite  food Cuba has to offer.  From Ropa Vieja, to fried yuca, and hopefully some Tres Leches.  It's been ages since I've smelled the sweet and garlic-y food that reminds me of my Aubelita's kitchen. I made this dinner a covered dish party so I'm interested to see what my friends bring over.  

Before I go, I'll let you in on a secret when it comes to the deliciousness of Cuban cooking, it's slow, it's all about bringing wonderful rich ingredient s together and letting them just fuse slowly. There isn't anything as powerful as the great meals you'll taste when you dine on some divine Cuban cuisine.