Heirloom Cuban Recipes

From the Daily Herald, 1/25/2011 by Deb Pankey

Grayslake family shares heirloom Cuban recipes

By Despite January’s gray skies, slushy streets and frigid temperatures, things are warm and sunny inside the Crews house in Grayslake.
Julian Crews (yes, the same Julian Crews you see on WGN news) and his family have just cooked up a colorful skillet of Cuban-style chicken and rice. Translated arrozo con pollo, the traditional dish is one Crews, a first-generation Cuban American, grew up eating. One bite of the piquant casserole transports him to the tropical clime and palm-lined streets of Havana.
“Both my parents were born in Cuba. … My family left Cuba in the 1960s and couldn’t take much with them,” says Crews, who was born in New York, schooled in Miami and then settled in the Chicago suburbs. “But they grabbed their cookbook, and I’m grateful for that.”
His great-grandfather Julio’s recipe for arrozo con pollo in that loose-leafed cookbook starts the traditional way, with sofrito. “The base of Cuban cooking is the sofrito,” Crews explains.
Onion, sweet peppers, garlic and tomato sauted in olive oil (or sometimes in bacon drippings) with a pinch of sea salt and vinegar until they turn soft and savory.
Another family favorite, his great-grandfather’s slow-cooked black beans — frijoles negros — also defined Crews’s childhood.
So when Julian Crews was on a news assignment in Cuba in 1999 he looked forward to trying the island specialty. The excitement turned to disappointment.
“I was with (then-governor) George Ryan on a humanitarian mission and at a nice restaurant they served up classic black beans,” he recalled. “I realized it wasn’t as good as what I made at home.”
So after a lot of research and a lot of years, Crews decided to share some of his heirloom recipes with Cuban food enthusiasts via Old Havana Foods. Those black beans and the family’s sofrito debuted with the Old Havana Foods label in November 2008, “60 days before the bottom fell out of the economy,” Crews said.
For nearly two years the company — which now includes long-grain rice and Chile Cubano (a sweet, tomato-based chili that makes a wicked base for sloppy Joes) — has relied on “modest” Internet sales.
“It’s a real family operation here; the kids help me put on labels, recipe tags,” he noted.
After his morning and noon-hour news segments he hits the street peddling his products and meeting with suppliers and manufacturers. The natural seasonings, for example, hail from McHenry County while the black beans get canned in downstate Illinois.
Those efforts are paying off. Today, Old Havana Foods products can be found in specialty grocery stores in Lake County and distribution continues to grow.
“Who would have thought that Chicago’s North Shore would go loco over Cuban frijoles negros,” Crews said after 300-plus cans sold in one Winnetka store in less than a month.

Crews said his products open a window to a new cuisine that many think of as exotic.
“Cuba has historically been a cultural melting pot,” Crews said. “Spanish cuisine was a major force in Cuban cooking,” but French and African expats who settled in eastern Cuba after the revolution in Haiti as well as Chinese immigrants who landed in Havana have had a spoon in the pot as well.

He said unlike some other Hispanic cuisines, Cuban food is not fiery. “It’s a savory spicy, not a hot spicy,” Crews said. “It’s a departure from what people are used to.”

Copyright © 2010 Paddock Publications, Inc. All rights reserved.

The Old Havana story

Black Beans and Rice Recipe

Thanks to those who came to watch our cooking demo at the Chicago Flower and Garden Show yesterday!
For those of you looking for a black bean and rice recipe, we've enclosed one here (we can't give you our family's ancient secrets- but perhaps you will remember it from the show.) You can always buy our sofrito at Old Havana Foods.com. Happy Cooking!

Frijoles Negros

1 lb dried black beans (rinsed and soaked overnight in cold water)
1 bay leaf
1 green pepper cut into quarters
2/3 c Olive Oil
4 garlic cloves chopped
1 large onion finely chopped
3 tsp cumin
2 TBSP cider vinegar
1 tsp finely chopped red or hot pepper

1. Boil beans with bay leaf for 2 hours until beans are tender.
2. To prepare sofrito- heat oil in a skillet over low heat until hot, then add garlic and onion, cook until onion is transparent 8-10 minutes. Add the cumin, vinegar and hot pepper and mix well.
3.Add sofrito to beans, mix well and cook over low heat. Add Bell Pepper. Cook over low heat for 30 to 40 minutes. Season to taste and serve.
Makes 8 servings.

Old Havana Foods will keep you warm during these final blustery, winter days. Especially, our popular Chili Cubano.
Many of you have sent us your recipe ideas with our Old Havana Foods Sofrito- our special sautéed seasoning base: as a salsa with huevos rancheros, burritos, a seasoning for grilling meat, on hot dogs, in sloppy joes, or any recipe that just needs a little kick. Here is one idea from our foodsage Betty Hogan, for an easier Arroz con Pollo (Rice with Chicken) Recipe, a long-time, popular Cuban Dish:

Arroz con Pollo
(Chicken and Rice) (Feeds 6)

INGREDIENTS:


- 2.5 pounds      Bone-in, skin-on chicken
                      (approximately 8 pieces)
- Salt and Pepper
- 2 Tablespoons Olive oil
-1 Jar (24 oz) Old Havana Foods Sautéed 
     Seasoning (Sofrito)
-1 Can (8 oz) small sweet peas, drained,
      reserve peas and liquid
-2 cups Chicken broth
-3/8 cup Juice from 4 limes
-12 oz Beer, divided
-2 cups Long grain white rice
-Pinch  of Saffron (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

Lightly season chicken with salt and pepper. Heat an 8 quart stockpot over medium-high heat until hot. Add olive oil to pot and half of the chicken pieces, skin side down. Brown 7 minutes, turning pieces after 4 minutes. Remove chicken from pan and repeat with remaining four pieces.

Return browned chicken pieces to stock pot and combine with Old Havana Sautéed Seasoning (Sofrito); stir well to coat chicken with sofrito. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 4 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add chicken broth, 8 ounces beer lime juice, liquid from peas and rice to stockpot. Stir well to combine and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer 20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes.

Remove stockpot from heat. Add remaining 4 ounces of beer. Stir well to combine, cover and let stand 8 to 10 minutes.

Add half of peas and stir to combine. Add salt and pepper to taste. Cut breast pieces in half. Serve Arroz con Pollo topped with remaining peas.

(Can substitute up to 2¼ pounds of boneless skinless chicken. Brown chicken on both sides, approximately 5 minutes total and remove. Add sofrito, liquids and rice from Step 3 to stockpot. Stir well and cover. Simmer 12 minutes over low heat. Add browned chicken breasts, stir well and simmer covered an additional 8 minutes. Continue with Step 4.)

Buen Provecho!