Cooking with LMNO

[Jenne]

Pernod and fennel, eh?  That must be what I couldn't think of today.  Wanted to make this but didn't have enough fishes.  Will look into this tomorrow or soon thereafter if I don't go out of town.

[LMNO]

Any anise-based liquor will do... Although an ouzo bouliabasse just sounds weird.

[LMNO]

Cuban* Black Bean Soup

We're starting with: Hot sausage, tomatoes, onion, garlic, Serrano pepper, bay leaf, cumin, oregano, red wine, red wine vinegar, salt, and George Bernard Shaw.


Brown the sausage, and remove.


Sauté the onion and Serrano with a lot of cumin and a pinch of salt until soft.


Add the garlic, cook for 30 seconds.


Deglaze with red wine.


Return the sausage; add the beans, tomato, oregano, & bay leaf. Add chicken stock and a shot of Nam Pla, and simmer for 20 minutes.  5 minutes before serving, add a splash of the vinegar.


Garnishes: Cheddar cheese, scallions, cilantro, hot sauce.


It's cold.  Eat some soup.







*Please note the lack of actual "Cuban-ness".

[Jenne]

Actual cuban-ness is just tons of fucking garlic, in my experience. 

Bravo--love this type of recipe, actually very N'Awlins.

[LMNO]

I figured the "cuba" came from all the damn cumin.  Which is awesome.

It's just a variation on the red beans and rice recipe, just simplified and using black beans.

[East Coast Hustle]

Oregon?

Fuck that hippie!

punctuation makes all the difference.

[LMNO]

No comment.

[East Coast Hustle]

typical cuban seasonings include cumin, thyme, garlic (though usually not overwhelming), and citrus. Their cuisine is notable among latin cuisines for being completely un-spicy. In fact, people who are used to mexican or puerto rican food are usually really surprised by how bland cuban food is. their sandwiches, however, are delicious. It doesn't even really matter what you put in the sandwich (thin sliced mojo pork is typical), what matters is that they make their sandwich loafs with real lard.

yum.

[LMNO]

Oh, holy fuck; there's a place in Cambridge that makes the singularly best Cuban sandwich I have ever had.  On consideration, they probably do add extra animal fat somewhere.

[Jenne]

There's this Cuban resto in LA that I've spoken of here before called Versailles.  They have like 3 of them in LA.  Anyway, they use garlic to the point that you'd swear there's more spice in their roasted chicken than there is, but no, it's ALL GARLIC.  So much garlic, it BURNS.

Awesome fucking chicken, though, and mightily addicting...served with plantains.

[LMNO]

Next time I head to LA, I'll have to remember that.

[Jenne]

Order their house sangria wine with it, not beer.  And the avocado-and-raw-onion salad to go with.  Jesus fuck that stuff is addicting.

[East Coast Hustle]

garlic and plantains?

I won't lie, that sounds fucking gross.

[Jenne]

garlic and plantains?

I won't lie, that sounds fucking gross.

Heh.  It's not.  It's fucking awesome.  The slight sweetness of the plantains and the sourness of the chicken?  Fucking fingerlicking.

[LMNO]

garlic and plantains?

I won't lie, that sounds fucking gross.

I dunno.  If done right, both have an element of sweetness that could compliment each other.