1. Soak beans over night, first wash beans, cover about 1-2 inches deep in water, bring to a boil 20 minutes, turn off heat and allow to soak overnight.
2. Next day bring to a boil, add bay leave meat or chunks of smoked ham, spanish chorizo, and bay leaf. Cover and reduce heat to medium low for about 1 1/2- 2 hours or until beans are tender.
3. While beans are cooking prepare the sofrito, sautee onions and bell pepper in olive oil on medium high until onions are translucent and fragrant, about 5-7 minutes, add garlic sautee another 3 minutes until fragrant, add diced tomato sautee another minute, add oregano and cumin stir 30 seconds, and finally stir in 1 tablespoon vinegar then add the dry sherry or white wine. Allow everything to cook on medium high heat for 10 minutes until wine and vinegar reduce significantly. Turn off heat set a side.
4. When beans are tender add the sofrito (meaning the sautee you just made) to the tender meat and beans, stir well, add chunks or calabaza and potato. Bring to a rolling boil on high heat, then lower heat to medium low and cover simmer for about 20- 30 minutes until calabaza and potato are tender.
5. Serve over rice or in a large bowl with bread. If you wish a nice Cuban tossed salad would go well with this.
Ingredients:
-1 lbs (2 cups) small dried red beans
-water (enough to submerge beans about 2 inches deep)
-1 bay leaf
-1 1/2 lbs. smoked ham, beef, or pork stew meat cut into 1 inch pieces
-2 small or 1/2 a large spanish chorizo sliced
-1/4- 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
-1 large onion minced
-1 green bell pepper minced
-6 cloves of garlic minced
-2 medium or small tomatoes diced (I'm sure canned tomatoes can work)
-1 tablespoon red wine, balsamic, or white vinegar (your choice we suggest you use balsamic)
-1/2 cup dry sherry or white wine
-1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
-1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
-2-3 medium potatoes cut into 1-2 inch chunks
-1 lbs. calabaza (pumpkin) (You can used1 lb. banana squash, butternut, hubbard, kabucha, and carribean squash will work fine) cut into 1-2 inch cubes
-salt to taste