SOUTHERN RECIPE RESTORATION PROJECT: Christmas dinner has international origin

For reader Rhonda Cottrell and her extended family, Christmas dinner wouldn’t be the same without Cuban pork as the entree. The recipe she shares today —- and the story behind it —- explain why.

The contributor: Cottrell is a retired administrator for the Medicaid program who works occasionally as a consultant. She lives in Ellijay with her husband, Jim, with whom she has a blended family of four children and six grandchildren. Four of those babies, she notes, were born within the last year.

The story: “I grew up in Tampa, and come from quite a mixed family. My great-grandfather was from Majorca, Spain, and came to Cuba on a ship, working his way toward the U.S. He married my great-grandmother in Cuba and they moved to Tampa, where he got a job in a cigar factory.

“My grandfather, Jack Rodriguez, later worked in the cigar factory as well, and that is where he met my grandmother, Molly. She was a Florida native and never spoke Spanish. My mother Marie, a North Carolina country girl, didn’t learn Spanish either, even though my father, Rudy, spoke it fluently.

“She did learn to cook Cuban food, mostly from my father’s sister, and she passed those traditions on to me.

“Cuban pork was the first dish my mother taught me to cook when I got married, and I’ve been making it for my family’s Christmas dinner ever since. Sometimes we even have it for Thanksgiving instead of turkey, our whole family loves it so much. I serve it with Cuban bread, sometimes with sauteed platanos [plantains] on the side and flan for dessert.

“My two daughters, who are 30 and 34, have both embraced their heritage and a couple of years ago, before they started families, the three of us went to Majorca so we could see where my great-grandfather lived.

“I took a refresher course in Spanish before we went.”

Rodriguez Family’s Cuban Black Beans and Pork

8 to 10 servings

Hands on: 30 minutes

Total time: 9 hours, plus overnight for marinating

Rhonda Cottrell told us that her mother, Marie Rodriguez, taught her to cook this dish, which she has been cooking for her own family Christmases for four decades. Cookbook author and chef Virginia Willis, who tested the recipe, loved slow cooking the pork. “I think it’s a great idea during the holidays to have such a low maintenance, but delicious dinner.”

For the pork:

3 medium onions, peeled and quartered

3 lemons, juiced

5 garlic cloves, peeled

1 teaspoon freshly chopped oregano

Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 (4- to 5-pound) boneless pork loin

2 bay leaves

For the beans:

1 pound dried black beans

2 quarts water

1/2 cup olive oil

1 onion, quartered

1 green bell pepper, seeded, cored and quartered

1 bay leaf

Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper

6 cups cooked rice, for serving

1 onion, chopped, for garnish

To prepare the pork: In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the blade attachment, combine onions, lemon juice, garlic, oregano, salt and pepper. Pulse until smooth.

Using a sharp knife, make several slits in the pork. Place in a large bowl and pour the onion mixture over it. Turn to coat. Add bay leaves, cover and refrigerate to marinate overnight.

To prepare the beans: Pick over the beans for stones. Place in a colander and rinse under cold running water. Transfer to a bowl and add water to cover. Set aside in a cool place to hydrate overnight.

Place the pork and onion mixture in a slow cooker and cook on low for about 8 hours. About 2 hours before pork is ready, place the black beans in a heavy-duty pot with water, olive oil, onion, bell pepper and bay leaf. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to simmer and cook until tender, 1 to 2 hours. Taste and adjust for seasoning with salt and pepper. When ready to serve, slice pork and serve it and black beans over rice with fresh onions and au jus from pork.

Per serving (based on 8): 786 calories (percent of calories from fat, 28), 57 grams protein, 84 grams carbohydrates, 11 grams fiber, 24 grams fat (5 grams saturated), 100 milligrams cholesterol, 91 milligrams sodium.

Share your own heirloom recipe

You, too, can share an heirloom recipe and honor a loved one: Go to ajc.com/food, and under Recipe Restoration Project click on Submit Yours and fill out the form. Or e-mail it to savingsouthernfood@gmail.com. Or mail it to Southern Recipe Restoration Project, c/o Food Editor Jamila Robinson, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 72 Marietta St. N.W., Atlanta, GA 30303.