About ½ pound sliced ham
Finely sliced dill pickles
Yellow mustard
Slice the entire loaf of bread open lengthwise. Spread mustard on both sides. Layer the Swiss cheese on the bottom, followed by pickles, followed by pork, followed by ham, followed by the rest of the cheese. Press the sandwich together. Either cut in half to cook in a press, or wrap in foil and grill until the cheese is melted and the bread toasty.
Black Bean Soup
All the most authentic Cuban black bean soup recipes I came across shared two instructions: First, soak the beans in a pot the day before you plan to cook, along with an onion and a green pepper. Second, cook these vegetables along with the beans, and then puree them and add them back into the soup. I was dubious, but I followed these instructions and was very happy with the results.
1 pound dried black beans
2 onions, peeled, one halved, one diced
2 green peppers, one halved, one diced
2 bay leaves
¼ to ½ teaspoon salt
2 jalapeño peppers, diced
4 cloves garlic, diced
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups good beef stock
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
Cover the beans, the halved onion, and the halved pepper with water in a pot and refrigerate overnight. The next day, simmer with the bay leaves until tender, up to an hour. Stir in salt.
Make the sofrito:
Sauté the diced onion, diced green pepper, jalapeños, and garlic in olive oil until soft. Stir this mixture into the beans.
Remove the bay leaves. Take the mushy onion and green pepper along with 2 cups of beans and process them in a blender until smooth. Add this back into the pot along with the beef stock. Stir in oregano, cumin, sugar, and red wine vinegar. Simmer at least another 30 minutes, though the dish can go longer.
Serve with white rice, sour cream, and a sprinkle of fresh cilantro.
Baked Bananas with a Cuban Flair
Often in Cuba and in Cuban restaurants, fried plantains are found on the side of meat and rice dishes. (Confession: I don’t love plantains.) I discovered a version of this banana recipe in the Nantucket Open-House Cookbook by Sarah Leah Chase and loved it. It’s easier than frying individual slices of plantain, which is important if you’re working on a lot of other dishes. These were delicious with the pork roast I made, but I could see them pairing well with a lot of other main dishes. They look as if you’ve gone to a lot of trouble when they’re really easy as pie.
5 to 6 bananas, halved lengthwise
½ stick butter
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice, or squeeze half a lime
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons rum
Cinnamon, optional
Lay out bananas in an 11 × 13 pan. Heat the butter and other ingredients in a small saucepan. Pour over the bananas. Bake at 375 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes or until the butter is bubbling and the bananas are just beginning to brown. Sprinkle with cinnamon if desired. That’s it!
Mojito Cake
In this eighth Key West mystery, Hayley and her mother Janet are catering a Key West/Havana conference at the Truman Little White House. This is the dessert they serve for the final dinner. The basis of this recipe again came from Cuba! Recipes and Stories From the Cuban Kitchen. I love lime cake and yellow cake and whipped cream, so you can imagine that this recipe was irresistible. I know mojitos require rum, and yet I’m not a big fan of alcohol-flavored desserts. So I chose to leave the rum extract out of the cake and instead add a teaspoon of rum. This gives it a little soupçon of flavor without overwhelming the cake. I also reduced the salt in the batter and the rum in the frosting. You can adjust the rum upward to a tablespoon if you choose.
For the cake
3 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder (low-sodium works fine)
½ teaspoon salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons lime zest
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
1 teaspoon rum
½ cup whole milk
For the lime-mint syrup
¼ cup water
¼ cup brown sugar
¼ cup fresh mint leaves, tightly packed
¼ cup freshly squeezed lime juice
2 cups heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons powdered sugar
1 teaspoon dark rum
For decoration:
Thin slices of lime, lime zest, or mint leaves
Prepare two 9-inch cake pans by buttering them and lining them with parchment paper. Butter the paper too. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix the dry ingredients for the cake (except the sugar) together and set aside. In your KitchenAid or food processor or with an electric beater, beat the butter well with the sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Mix in the vanilla extract, lime zest, lime juice, and rum. Fold in the dry ingredients; don’t overmix. Stir in the milk.
Divide the batter into the two prepared pans and bake about 30 minutes, or until the cakes spring back when touched. Cool for 10 minutes in the pans, and then remove from the pans and cool completely.
For the lime-mint syrup, heat the water and brown sugar in a small pan until the sugar is dissolved. Turn off the heat and stir in the mint leaves. Let them steep for 10 minutes, then strain them out and stir in the lime juice. Paint this glaze onto each layer of cake with a pastry brush.
Whip the cream and powdered sugar until stiff, then stir in the rum. Dollop half of the whipped cream onto the first layer. Place the second layer on top and spread the remainder of the cream over that. Decorate with thin slices of lime, lime zest, or mint leaves as desired.
About the Author
Clinical psychologist Lucy Burdette has published 15 mysteries, including the latest in the Key West food critic mysteries. Her books and stories have been shortlisted for Agatha, Anthony, and Macavity awards. She's a member of Mystery Writers of America and a past president of Sisters in Crime. She lives in Madison, CT and Key West, FL.
Also available by Lucy Burdette
Key West Food Critic Mysteries
An Appetite for Murder
Death in Four Courses
Topped Chef
Murder with Ganache
Death with All the Trimmings
Fatal Reservations
Killer Takeout
This is a work of fiction. All of the names, characters, organizations, places and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to real or actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
PUBLISHER’S NOTE: The recipes contained in this book are to be followed exactly as written. The publisher is not responsible for your specific health or allergy needs that may require medical supervision. The publisher is not responsible for any adverse reaction to the recipes contained in this book.
Copyright © 2018 by Roberta Isleib
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Crooked Lane Books, an imprint of The Quick Brown Fox & Company LLC.
Crooked Lane Books and its logo are trademarks of The Quick Brown Fox & Company LLC.
Library of Congress Catalog-in-Publication data available upon request.
ISBN (hardcover): 978-1-68331-746-3
ISBN (ePub): 978-1-68331-747-0
ISBN (ePDF): 978-1-68331-748-7
Cover illustration by Griesbach/Martucci
Book design by Jennifer Canzone
Printed in the United States.
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First Edition: August 2018
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