San Antonio.- Full disclosure, I’ve always like Bush’s Baked Beans even before the dog tried making an end around and selling the recipe. Imagine my delight when I learned Bush came out with its Cocina Latina Frijoles.
There are four different types of beans (frijoles) and each gives you a taste you can really appreciate. Canned beans have always been around, but the number of samples with that Latino taste was limited to refried beans and lately charro beans. Those are been that aren’t mashed or refried, but rather left whole and flavored with chile, tomate y cebolla. That is, when made fresh, but not when canned.
What Bush offers is unbelievable. Being a foodie, it was exciting to savor the flavors I grew up with and have always been looking for because with today’s hectic way of life this is something you can only enjoy on lazy weekends. With Bush’s Cocina Latina Frijoles you can have that awesome taste daily.
Of course there’s more. The first sampling was Frijoles a la Mexicana. This is pinto beans, with tomato in a serrano chile salsa with onion, flavored with cilantro and a touch of bacon. You got it, endless recipe possibilities. One of those that I toyed with was Bush’s® Pollo Pibil with Frijoles a la Mexicana.
Initially, I said these beans were quick meals and they are because they satisfy just out of the can and warmed up. But the recipes I got from Bush were a meal and then some. Pollo Pibil took about 35 minutes to prepare and 20 minutes to cook. This is one of those lazy weekend things I mentioned, but trust me it is well worth it.
- 2 cups cooked white rice
- 1yellow plantain fried in small slices
- 4 fresh boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 4 oranges juiced
- 1 lime
- 1 oz achiote paste (2 tbsp achiote powder)
- 4 garlic cloves
- 3 tbsp white vinegar
- 2 tbsp dry Mexican oregano
- Half a red onion
- Salt, to taste
Yeah, mouth watering comes into play just laying out the ingredients. What’s going to make this work is your culinary expertise. No, we’re not talking Le Cordon Bleu, just how well you make things work in your kitchen. Bush’s® Pollo Pibil with Frijoles a la Mexicana will prove your worth and involves five simple steps.
- In a blender, mix the orange juice, lime juice, achiote, garlic, oregano and 1 tbsp. of vinegar.
- Cover the chicken with the marinade, season with salt to taste, cover with plantain leaf and let sit in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes (better if more).
- Using a medium or big saucepan, add a piece of plantain leaf to the bottom of the pan enough to cover it all. Add the chicken and all the marinade, and then add another leaf on top, cover and cook for 20 minutes or until chicken is completely cooked.
- While the chicken is cooking, sliced the onion and let it sit in a plate with 2 tbsp. of vinegar.
- Remove the chicken, shredded and serve with onions on top and white rice, beans and yellow plantains.
BTW, I learned this the second time around. You may want to add a tad of oil to that plantain leaf to keep it from burning while cooking with it in that saucepan. Gotta say a lotta people don’t enjoy chicken breasts; they say they’re not moist enough and prefer the dark meat. So yeah, substitute chicken thighs and they are moist. Pork is more than okay.
¡Buen provecho!
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