Cuban Recipes

It’s a picnic-perfect day in Miami—warm, slightly windy, and sunny. For Cuban-American chef, cookbook author, and culinary historian Maricel Presilla, picnicking is all about celebrating old-country roots in grand style. “The concept of picnicking for Cubans is very elaborate; it’s an all-day affair. We go to the beach and bring the whole kitchen with us!” she says with a laugh.

Maricel counts on make-ahead recipes and marinated food that can be thrown on the grill without a fuss. With all of her sauces, salads, and ingredients packed to go in plastic containers, it’s only a matter of mixing, grilling, and enjoying. Try Maricel’s neo-Latin cuisine with her eight do-ahead recipes, and let your picnicking begin!

• Mojitos
• Cuban Bread with Chocolate and Garlic Spread
• Chicken Thighs in Adobo
• Red Mojo Marinated Fish and Seafood
• Grilled Ripe Plantains
• Black Beans and Rice Salad
• Grilled Pineapple, Avocado, and Watercress Salad
• Tres Leches Cake

Maricel’s Cuban Pantry
Maricel Presilla takes Cuban flavors to a new level in her neo-Latin cuisine. These are some of her staple ingredients.

Achiote Oil: Annatto seeds (achiote in Spanish) are tiny and rust-red in color; they can be infused into hot oil or used as a ground powder or as a paste. As a marinade, achiote oil contributes an orange-red vibrancy to seafood, chicken, or pork.

Adobo: In the Cuban kitchen, an adobo is a mixture of ground garlic, olive oil, citrus juice, and spices traditionally used as a marinade. When thinned out with a little extra sour orange juice, vinegar, or lime juice, it makes a wonderful sauce.

Peppers: Cuban food is on the mild side, but Maricel is a proponent of reintroducing hot peppers to Cuban dishes. For intense heat, use Scotch bonnets and habaneros; for a mild flavor, try the long, pale green, smooth Cubanelle or a seeded and veined jalapeño; for the musky flavor of a Scotch bonnet without the incendiary heat, try ají dulce.

Sour Orange: Sour oranges, also called Seville oranges, are a staple. They have a complex bitter quality that is uniquely delicious. If you can’t find this bumpy-rind citrus at your market, use equal parts lime juice and orange juice as a substitute.

Mojo: An all-purpose marinade and sauce foundation, the base is always made from garlic and oil; to this, just about anything can be added, from fresh herbs and spices to chocolate.

Maricel Presilla’s newest cookbook of Latin American cuisine will be published by W.W. Norton in fall 2007. Her first book was The New Taste of Chocolate: A Cultural and Natural History of Chocolate with Recipes (2001; Ten Speed Press).