Moors and Christians

Image via Wikipedia

For breakfast this morning, I topped rice cooked with black beans, heated in the microwave, with a plain omelet and Valentina hot sauce, and went to town. The rice-beans combination is called congris, a Cuban term for dirty rice, but it's also known as moros y cristianos or Moors and Christians (at left in photo), a term reflecting the Arab occupation of Spain that ended in 1492.

The moros were left over from our Cuban roast pork feast on Christmas Day -- accompanied by ham croquettes and a Spanish potato omelet -- all from Belarmino Rico, owner of a West New York Cuban sandwich shop called La Pola, the Spanish town where he was born. All that was missing was a salad I forgot to make in the rush of heating up the Cuban food and preparing lamb, a hamburger, a hot dog and mashed potatoes for three guests who don't eat pork. Next year, I'll sautee collard greens with garlic.

The roast pork I sliced and plated was moistened with an addictive garlic sauce or mojito, which also goes into Rico's Cuban sandwiches before they are heated. This morning, I sliced off the roast pork's skin and fat and put them in the oven to crisp up the skin and liquify the fat. I ate entirely too many pieces, but included something healthy in my breakfast -- a small bowl of cabbage kimchi.

Christmas Eve Cubano

We fought the holiday traffic today and drove to West New York, but, luckily, there was an empty parking spot waiting for us in the small lot next to La Pola Restaurant, self-described "King of the Cuban Sandwich." To that, I say, Amen.

Inside, proprietor Belarmino Rico, his wife, sons, grandchildren and merry band of helpful employees made and served hot sandwiches, or Cubanos, and packed up Christmas specialties his customers had ordered -- roasted hams, ribs and  whole, butterflied pigs; the rice-and-black beans combination called congris; tamales, Spanish potato omelets, plantain chips (photo) and chicharrones or fried pork rinds.

Rico, who was born in the Asturian village of La Pola in Spain, lived in Cuba and learned to make the sandwiches at his uncle's bodega in Havana.

My Christmas menu now is set:

Alaskan king crab and sweet corn chowder (Costco)
Cuban roast pork
Congris (white rice cooked with black beans)
Tortilla espanola (potato omelet)
Cuban ham croquettes
Organic spring mix salad
Wine
Pear and hazelnut galette (Balthazar Bakery)

One of my guests and her children don't eat pork, so I'll prepare Australian leg of lamb for her, and an organic hamburger and uncured hot dog for the kids, with mashed potatoes.

La Pola Restaurant, 5400 Palisade Ave (54th Street), 
West New York;  (201) 867-6028. Call for holiday hours.
 

In search of a naturally raised holiday ham

I have been looking for an uncured, naturally raised ham to serve on Christmas Day, a holiday my wife and son celebrate. I have read that hogs receive more antibiotics than any other animal raised for food. I also want an uncured ham to avoid such preservatives as sodium nitrate and sodium nitrite.

Last week, Costco's first antibiotic-free, vegetarian-fed half ham showed up at the Hackensack store, but I was disappoinited to see that it had been cured and preserved with sodium nitrite. Next to it was a ham steak with no preservatives, but nothing on the label said it came from a naturally raised animal. You can't win.

On the Organic Prairie Web site, I saw an uncured, hardwood-smoked, boneless half ham from an heirloom breed that was free of antibiotics, growth hormones and other additives. Best of all, it was about three pounds -- perfect for my family of three. You might recall how we have struggled to eat much bigger hams. But I would have to buy three hams for a total of $81.42 -- about $9.05 a pound -- plus $15 for shipping.

I'll check out Trader Joe's and Whole Foods in Paramus tomorrow to see what kind of hams they carry, but I am also planning to shop for traditional Cuban roast pork (photo) and side dishes. This means I'll have to throw out all concerns about antibiotics and how the animals were raised, but the garlic-rich cooking wins me over time and again.

When I say shop, I mean making the trip to La Pola in West New York, where I have purchased food for several Cuban Christmas meals in the past. On the day before Christmas, most of the tables and chairs of the Cuban sandwich shop will be cleared away to make room for racks holding roasted hams and ribs. Side dishes such as rice cooked with black beans (congris), garlic sauce (mojito) and plaintain chips also will be available.

Belarmino Rico, the proprietor, his sons and wife are usually swamped at this time of the year, but their welcome is warm. In an article I wrote for The Record in 2003, I crowned Rico's Cuban sandwich the best among a dozen I tasted in North Jersey. With a name like Rico (Spanish for delicious), he couldn't lose.


La Pola Restaurant, 5400 Palisade Ave (54th Street), 
West New York;  (201) 867-6028. Call for holiday hours.