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. 
This dish sounds great! I love sweet potatoes and black beans together, and the cilantro and lime sound like the perfect flavor additions.
My fiance isn’t the biggest fan of beans so I try to “sneak” them into dishes and this looks a great recipe to try out!
I absolutely adore sweet potatoes but wud have never thought of flavoring them with cilantro and lime. This sounds like it would turn out super delicious.
We always have black beans in the house too and they are just perfect with sweet potatoes too – yum!
Oh dear, I never thought of pairing these 4 fave flavors together. Amazing : )
Yum! I love black beans and I also love that they are super good for you. I think this would be an awesome quick weeknight dinner!
perfect combo of tastes. I would love to try this one.
Mmmm what a refreshing twist on sweet potatoes! These sound hearty and delicious!
What a great recipe and beautiful photo. Black beans and sweet potatoes (and cilantro, for that matter!) are a couple of my favorite foods, so I know that I’d love this!
Yum! I love black beans in salads. This sounds great!
And great pictures, too!
Made a half recipe and loved it hot or cold! Took to a work pot luck and a hit with everyone. Thanks for another great recipe.