Gilbert's house for Cuban food

First let me say I'm sorry for getting so behind on blogging! Just so you know we never got behind on feasting, just on telling you about it :) The Wade's were scheduled after ours, but life got in the way, so we met downtown and did a pub crawl. It was more befitting our mood at the time :)

With the help from a Cuban friend from work I attempted a traditional Christmas meal (from before communism forbade the celebration of Christmas).

APERITIVOS

Pasta de Guayaba con Queso y Galletas
(Guayaba is a fruit made into a paste with cheese on crackers. I chose jack cheese after some research)

Platanos Maduros
(These are overly ripe/black plantain bananas fried to golden crisp. They are sweet)

Tostones y Mojo
(Yum... mojo! Mojo is very special to Cubans and many other Latin/Caribbean countries. It is made with a lot of garlic, olive oil, spices, and sour orange juice. If you can't hunt down the sour oranges, use equal parts lime and orange. Tostones are green or yellow plantains that are smashed and fried and smashed some more.)

PLATO PRINCIPAL

Platanos Hervidos
(boiled green regular bananas with butter. Tastes a little like sweet potatoes)
Moros y Cristianos
(Rice and black beans, or Moors and Christians)
Pierna Asada a la Cubana con Mojo Salsa
(This is basically baked pork butt with mojo ingredients and orange halves in the pan with a little bowl of mojo to dunk the meat in.)

POSTRE

Tarte de Limón (from Whole Foods)

WINE

We requested them to bring a bottle of red wine that would pair well with Cuban food. The wines were very different from each other... which was a problem. We tend to vote for the wine which best suits our palate, nt the best of a particular varietal. The grenache imported from France won the night.