black beans with ham hock, cilantro, & lime

Posted by david on 9. February 2009 21:18

black beans with ham hock, cilantro, & lime

Beans

1 lb beans, i used half black, half red kidney

12 c water

1 smoked ham hock

1 green bell pepper

1 medium onion

6 clove garlic minced

2 bay leaves

1 tbs kosher salt

Sofrito

2 tbs OO

1 med onion, minced

1 small green bell pepper, minced

8 garlic cloves, minced

2 tsp dried oregano

1 1/2 tsp kosher salt

1 1/2 tsp ground cumin

1 tbs lime juice

1/2 c fresh cilantro leaves, minced

Beans:

all the bean ingredients into a dutch oven, bring to boil over med high. reduce to simmer, partially covered, add more water if it gets too low. Cook till tender but not splitting, about 2 hours. Remove the ham hock. Get the meat off the ham hock & cut into small chunks.

Sofrito:

heat oil in large skillet over med heat; add ingredients except cumin, juice, and cilantro. Saute till soft, 8 – 10 min.  add cumin; saute about a min.

The recipe calls for adding 1 cup of the beans & 2 cups of the bean liquid, then mashing with a fork or potato masher.  I added same & then threw the whole lot ( sofrito ) into a food mill and ran it through that.  I returned the resultant liquid to the skillet, reduced it a little longer. Then add the sofrito & the ham hock meat into the pot o’ beans.

Simmer all till beans are creamy & liquid thickens to sauce consistency, 15 to 20 min.  Add lime juice, simmer another minute. Stir in cilantro & season with S&P as necessary.  Serve hot over white rice.

I added, in the last step, a tbs honey, more salt, more pepper, & some soy sauce.  

It all came out well – not terribly unique, but I thought the final taste was balanced, just right.

Original recipe: Cooks Illustrated 1/1/98