1 lb black eye peas
1 t salt
3 cloves garlic
2 bird peppers (small extremely hot peppers)

Soak beans overnight and in the morning, slip off their skins. Then grind with the garlic until almost a paste. Add salt and bird peppers. Beat until it’s the consistency of a cake batter. Drop from a teaspoon into deep hot fat.

1 pound black beans
3 cloves garlic
1 sweet pepper
2/3 C olive oil
2 bay leaves
salt
1 T vinegar

Soak beans overnight. Wash and place in a quart of water with all ingredients except vinegar. Boil for an hour, then turn heat down and simmer about 4 hours until thickened and creamy. When ready to serve, add vinegar and garnish with slices of cuban bread fried in olive oil and 1 can of drained pimiento.

See also my favorite Cuban black bean recipe: Cuban Black Beans: Arnaldo and Gloria’s Recipe (from La Cantinita restaurant, Arlington, Virginia).

1 lb black turtle beans
1 large onion, chopped
2 green pepper, chopped
4 cloves freshly ground garlic
2/3 C extra virgin olive oil
1/2 t cumin
1/2 t oregano
2 bay leaves
about 2 t salt

In a large pot, put the beans and cover with approximately 10 cups of water. Soak overnight with one green pepper. When ready to cook, boil beans until tender to the touch. Time will vary with the beans. You may need to add water to maintain the water level to the top of the pot. When beans are slightly tender to the touch, add salt to taste. In a frying pan add the olive oil and the remaining ingredients. Saute until the green pepper and onion are tender. Add to the beans and continue cooking until the beans have thickened. If additional thickening is desired, remove 1 cup of beans, mash thoroughly, and return to the pot.

She left a slightly more elaborate recipe for this that’s filed under Picadillo (Cuban Recipe Pre-Castro).

For an authentic Cuban black bean recipe to go alongside, see: Cuban Black Beans – Arnaldo and Gloria’s Recipe.

Sauce: tomato sauce with:
raisins
green olives
onions
green peppers
garlic
rosemary
ground beef or substitute

Serve over white rice with:
Black beans cooked with onion, green pepper, and celery

1 loaf Cuban or Italian bread
2 T mayonnaise
2 small dill pickles, thinly sliced lengthwise
2 slices Swiss cheese
4 oz sliced roast pork
4 oz ham
1 T butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Trim ends off the loaf and slice bread in half lengthwise. Spread cut surfaces with mayo and layer one side with pickles, cheese, pork, and ham. Cover with the other piece of bread and cut down the middle into two sandwiches.

Place sandwiches on lightly oiled baking sheet and brush with butter. Place a heavy cast-iron skillet over both sandwiches to weigh them down, and bake until crisp and hot, about 20 minutes.

5 lb pork roast
large can stewed tomatoes
med onion
4-5 cloves garlic
hot sauce to taste

Brown roast, add stewed tomatoes (should come close to covering the roast), onions, garlic and maybe 3-4 Tbs of hot sauce. Simmer for several hours on stove top, until meat is tender. I turn the roast over a couple times. I use Grace crushed pepper sauce, but any red hot sauce should work.

2 jars pimientos
1 lb smoked turkey sausage
16 oz basmati rice
28 oz water
2 onions
Oil
1/2 tsp bijol (Cuban spice mixture, mostly annato and cumin)
1 t oregano
2 t salt
2 t cumin
1 C frozen peas

Saute onions in oil, when translucent, add sausage and cook some more. Add rice, water, and spices and cook until rice is done, 18 minutes on the stove or 6 minutes in the pressure cooker. Stir in peas and pimientos at end.

1-2 oz good rum
Big handful fresh spearmint leaves
1/2 lime, cut into 4 wedges
2 T simple syrup
Club soda
Splash of Triple Sec
In a tall glass, muddle the mint leaves with the lime. Cover with simple syrup and fill with ice. Stir in the rum. Top with club soda and add a splash of Triple Sec. You can stir it up, or just serve it with a straw.

Simple syrup: Combine 2 parts sugar with 3 parts hot water. Stir until the sugar is dissolved.

1. Make small meatballs.
Use 1 lb lean ground beef.
Small amount of garlic, crushed or powder
Italian seasoning, small amount
Grated parmesan, generous amount
1 egg
Bread crumbs for consistency
Bake 15 minutes at 350 degrees, and set aside for later

2. Arrange a bed of plan white rice 1 inch thick in casserole:

3. Ingredients for Sauce
Large jar plain spaghetti sauce
Large can Progresso black beans, drained and rinsed
1 C green olives
1 C raisins (plumped in microwave 2-4 minutes in 4 T of water)
1 T of Prudhomme’s Cajun magic, or something very similar for very spicy

4. Arrange sauce on rice, place meatballs around sides of casserole dish
Bake 45 minutes at 250 degrees

Serves around 4 people. I quadrupled this for a party.

E. Schulte

Handwritten note from Mom on the back: “PS. Guess what —
After all these years my little sail boat watch (red) started running again. Weird!!!”