“Try this easy-to-follow recipe and enjoy one of Cuba’s most famous plates. Full of protein and flavor, Cuban-style black beans serve as a meal in themselves, or as a delicious side dish. By dry roasting the brown rice, you will enhance its flavor and increase its natural sweetness. Serve as a main course or side dish.”

“Among the most inexpensive of foods, dried beans offer a bounty of fiber, iron, protein, folic acid and B vitamins. Black beans, also known as “turtle beans,” are an especially tasty variety, and make a lovely soup. Do not salt dried beans until they are cooked, as the salt slows down the softening process. On another note, so-called “cooking” wines or sherries contain lots of added salt. Do your palate and your body a favor and use a drinkable sherry in this recipe."

Straight from the soup can.

“Cara Brunetti of Hamilton, Virginia, writes: “I come from a long line of great cooks. My father owns an Italian market in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where my mother gets a lot of the ingredients she uses in her wonderful dishes. My mother-in-law is a reciper developer, and I’ve been known to sit next to my great-aunt Stella with a pen and paper as she details her amazing recipes. I live far from home now, but I reconnect with my family traditions every evening when I make dinner.”

Pureeing the soup gives it a smooth richness — without any cream.

“A classic.”

This is a very easy bean salad you can make the night before and take to work, or serve as a side dish.