Recipe: Cuban Red Beans-Frijoles Colorados

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 1/4 pound slab bacon, cut into 1/4-inch dice, and 1/2 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.