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.

Wades' Gastro Pub

Welcome to the Wade household where you come prepared with elastic waistbands. The tasting was Grenache/Garnacha and Dan provided Dogfish Head Beers

Beer Tasting
Dogfish Head Aprihop
Dogfish Head Namaste

Starters
Beer Battered Asparagus (I became addicted to these...I just couldn't stop eating them)
Candied Bacon (and a little spicy too)

Small Bites
Chorizo Grilled Cheese (the chorizo was shredded and mixed with the cheese)
Blue Cheese Pub Burgers (stuffed with blue cheese, so I took off the bun and chowed on the burger)
Four Cheese Mac & Cheese with Crisp Pancetta
Garlic Herb Fries (of course Joe stole mine)

Dessert
Grilled Nutella Banana Croissants (surprisingly delicious)

The Winners? We came out in last with a Spanish Garnacha from Alto-Cinco. The Wades and the Shetlers brought the same wine, but different years of D66 by Orin Swift. The Wades came in second with 2010,  the Shetlers won with the 2009.