Addie’s Cuban black beans

Addie and me, before I moved on to solid foods

My great-grandmother Addie lived on a South Florida sugar cane farm and passed along, among other recipes, a Cuban friend’s formula for black beans. I hadn’t made or eaten these beans in years until I prepared a pot a week ago while visiting Cristen, Graham and Camille in Birmingham.

I don’t think I’ll go back to canned. 

Since I wanted this batch on a weekday, I soaked the beans overnight on Sunday, prepped the vegetables Monday morning and tossed all the ingredients in my slow cooker*. The results didn’t suffer. 

I ate the first few servings over white rice with an ear of Florida corn, sliced avocado and a few tablespoons of leftover tomatillo salsa. It would have been a vegan meal had I not slathered the corn in butter. Oops. 

This pot made plenty, so I froze a good portion for later use and have experimental plans for the rest of the batch.

Addie’s Cuban Black Beans
1 pound dried black beans
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
5 cloves garlic, chopped
1 bay leaf
3 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons white wine vinegar

Instructions
Rinse beans in a colander, and place in a large bowl. Cover beans with water, at least 3 inches above their surface. Soak overnight.

Heat olive oil in a large pot over; add onion, pepper, garlic, and bay leaf. Turn heat to medium and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, until onion is translucent. Pour in beans along with the water you soaked them in. (It will affect the color, but you also can rinse the beans at this point and add fresh water to reduce gastrointestinal disturbance. Sorry to be crude.)

Add salt, pepper, sugar, and vinegar. Bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 3 hours, adding more water if necessary. 

Serves 6 to 8

*To prepare this in a slow cooker, add sauteed vegetables to soaked beans and seasonings. I cooked mine on high for 6 hours and on warm until I got home, probably a total of 10 hours. 

Tagged as: black beans, Cuban