My parents traveled to Puerto Rico one year and returned with a challenge; make Puerto Rican Red Beans as good as the ones they had at a beachside bar on their trip. Happy to say I succeeded! Some research online and my own tweaks resulted in a succulent pot of beans. Note, the Sofrito recipe will result in enough Sofrito for 3 batches of beans, you can freeze the rest of the Sofrito for future use.

Cubanelle Peppers and Culantro are more unusual ingredients, but check your local Asian and Latin American grocery stores (I found both at my local H-Mart!). The V8 might seem unusual, but this is a trick I picked up from my Dad, if you want to deepen the flavor on any dish that calls for tomato sauce/crushed tomato, try substituting in V8, will increase the umami AND the vitamin content of the dish!

Ingredients

• Sofrito
  • 3 heads of garlic
  • 2 Cubanelle Peppers
  • 1 Red Bell Pepper
  • 1 Green Bell Pepper
  • 2 Plum Tomatoes
  • 1 bunch green onions
  • 2 large red onions
  • 1 bunch of fresh Culantro
  • 1 bunch of fresh Cilantro
  • 1 Tbs Kosher Salt ¼ cup Olive Oil
• Beans
  • 3 Tbs Olive Oil
  • 1 container Sofrito
  • 1 cup diced ham
  • 3 (6 oz) cans of V8
  • 4 Bay Leaves
  • 1 qt chicken stock/broth
  • 2 Tbs Goya Adobo Seasoning
  • 1 tsp dried oregano
  • 3 (15 oz) cans pink beans, drained

Instructions

1. Sofrito: To make the sofrito, de-seed and lightly chop all the tomatoes/onions/peppers, remove the skin from all the garlic, toss in your food processor and blend until a fine puree. Add in Kosher Salt and Olive Oil. Once that is done, pour out of food processor, then add in Culantro AND Cilantro (there is a difference); make sure you have only added the leaves, not the stems. Blend in food processor for a few pulses until all the leaves have been minced, you don’t want them reduced to a paste. Stir together with vegetable puree. Divide into 3 containers, one will be used for your beans, the other 2 can be frozen for future use. Finished Sofrito should look like the following:

1. Beans: Heat olive oil in stock pot, add diced ham and saute over medium heat for about 3 minutes. Add sofrito, saute until it turns from green color to starting to brown, excess moisture should have cooked off, you should just have a paste, no excess liquid.
2. Once done sauteing the sofrito, add all remaining ingredients EXCEPT for the beans. Bring to a boil, lower to a simmer, cover and let simmer for 1 hour (will let the flavors deepen and improve, also cooks off the…distinct taste cilantro can cause). Once the hour is up, add the beans, and simmer for 15 minutes. Serve over white rice.

Yield: 8 servings of beans, plus 2 extra containers of Sofrito