Rice and Beans
Hubby loves to cook and rice and beans is one of his favorite things to make. His father came to the US from Cuba back in the 70s (I was just corrected. It was 1967) and taught Hubby to make a few classic dishes. This recipe is the quick version of rice and beans. It uses canned beans and doesn’t take long to throw together at all. We eat this meal on a fairly regular basis. It can be made vegetarian by leaving out the chorizo or using soyrizo.
One of the first times our parents met, Hubby’s father made rice and beans for some of us. My little sister, who was nine at the time, claimed she didn’t like rice and beans and wouldn’t eat it. We finally convinced her to try a bite and she ended up eating two platefuls!
We like to serve this over brown rice. And, the beans can be frozen once cooked. Hubby made a couple batches prior to our kitchen renovation and we froze it in individual portions.
One Year Ago: My First Operation Baking Gals
Quick Rice and Beans
Yield: 4-6
Ingredients:
2 cans of beans - garbonzos (chick peas) or kidney beans
1 large yellow onion, chopped
1-2 links of Chorizos, torn into bite sized pieces
4-6 cloves of garlic, mashed in a mortar and pestle
2-3 bay leaves
1 tsp ground coriander
1 green pepper cut in half and into strips (optional)
Olive oil
Directions:
Make the Sofrito
Pour ~2 Tbsp of olive oil into a medium frying pan. Heat on medium and once hot add garlic. Sauté garlic for a few seconds to season the oil. Add onions and peppers before the garlic gets browned. Continue to cook until the onion starts to soften then add chorizo. Cook until the onions are soft and the chorizo juices have spread and the sofrito has an orangy tinge.
Meanwhile, prepare the Beans
Add both cans of beans including the juices to a saucepan. Add some water so that the beans are ~1/2 an inch below the water level. Bring to a boil.
When sofrito is ready, add to beans and mix. Add bay leaves and coriander.
Cover and boil for at least 20 minutes. Ensure that the water level stays above the beans. You can boil the beans for longer to continue to distribute the flavors even more. Remove bay leaves prior to serving. Serve over rice.
Recipe from Hubby
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
some of our faves are asparagus and brussels sprouts too 🙂
This is the only way we eat our asparagus as well. Do people still boil asparagus? Seriously, it’s kind of a waste that way…
Sometimes the simplest recipes are the best to share. 🙂
One of my all time faves. Roasted anything, actually, but asparagus gets so crispy and flavorful!
We love to grill asparagus that has been rubbed with olive oil and sea salt–so good! 🙂
Hi there, I’ve been reading your blog for so long now and just wanted to say thanks for all your wonderful recipes. I’ve used so many that have been awesome and really tasty thank you so much! Keep up the good work!
p.s asparagus season is one of the highlights of our year to hehe. So many fantastic things you can do with it! Have you tried roasting it in orange juice and silvered almonds? Devine.
Sezasaurus – Orange and almond does sound tasty! Thanks for the idea.
I can’t remember if I’ve ever had roasted asparagus – roasted broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts definitely but roasted asparagus could be a new one. Sounds awesome! 🙂
We made this last night with grilled pork chops and homemade mac and cheese. I tossed in the olive oil, garlic salt, and pepper and then probably ate 1/4 of them cold while I was waiting for the oven to heat up. Hubby and I each took a serving for our plates after they cooked and then stood in the kitchen eating the rest off the baking sheet before we had dinner! So good and so easy for our favorite veggie!