Delicious Cuban Recipes – Mojo Pork, Empanadas & More!

SHARE these delicious Cuban recipes for Slow Cooker Mojo Pork, Empandas & More!

Delicious Cuban Recipes

On a cold Winter night, our Gourmet Group warmed things up with these delicious Cuban recipes. A giant floral print tablecloth set with mix and match dishes, provided the perfect casual backdrop.”Cuban Radio” on Pandora, set the right mood with a lively Latin beat. We also embraced the Cuban love for pork in multiple courses; pre-appetizer snack, appetizer and main course!

Cocktail & Appetizer

Strawberry Balsamic Basil Daiquiris

Brian and Lynda kicked the evening off with these fun cocktails. They are a slushy, fruity concoction which is not too sweet, thanks to the tang of balsamic vinegar and hint of basil. As we sipped our daiquiris, we nibbled on a basket of regular and spicy pork rinds (they pulled out all the stops seeing it was gourmet group) and waited for their empanadas to finish baking.

Cuban Sandwich Empanadas with Mustard Aioli

Cuban Sandwich Empandas are golden brown pastry filled with the classic flavors of a Cubano – ham, roasted pork, Swiss cheese, pickles and mustard. I particularly like the tang provided by the mustard and pickles.  Mustard Aioli, a garlicy/mayo/mustard sauce amps the flavor up even further. Yummy! You could easily serve these hearty empanadas as meal with a nice tossed salad on the side. *Recipe provided at bottom of post*

Main Course

In keeping with the casual vibe, Mike and I decided to serve the main course family style. I’ve always thought eating great food in a casual setting was the perfect combination.

Slow Cooker Mojo Pork (recipe link)

This is a very easy, flavorful dish which can be prepared in advance. The leftovers would be wonderful in tacos, burritos, nachos, you name it. The citrus marinade also provides the braising liquid for the crock pot and serves as the sauce. My version of this dish had the following tweaks:

• Added a generous 1/4 tsp. of crushed red pepper when thickening the sauce, plus more salt & pepper.
• Skipped the cilantro in the marinade but passed fresh chopped cilantro with the dish so those who like cilantro could add it.
• Skipped the oven browning step at the end of the cooking process. Instead, I shredded the pork into large chunks, discarding the bone and excess fat. Then I thickened and seasoned the sauce and combined it with the pork. Because I made this a few hours in advance, I refrigerated it and then reheated on low in the slow cooker for about an hour or so before serving.

Slow Cooker Mojo Pork[/caption]

Tomato Coconut Rice & Cuban Beans

Instead of standard white rice I decided to make my Tomato Coconut Rice. It may not be a truly Cuban recipe, but I thought the coconut milk, red peppers and plum tomatoes in this dish would work well with the main course. I was right!

Cuban Black Beans take some time to make, but were packed with flavor and worth the effort (for Gourmet Group.) After simmering for 2 1/2 hours, my beans cooked down to a chunky refried bean consistency, which I actually preferred. If you want to prevent that, I recommend following the overnight soaking method described on the dried bean package. Then simmer until the beans reach your desired level of tenderness (about 90 minutes according to recipes using this method.)  The other thing I’ll mention, is that this recipe calls for 1/2 cup of minced garlic which I thought was insane. I cut that in half, but in retrospect, I think the full 1/2 cup would not have been too much.

Cuban Avocado, Watercress and Pineapple Salad

Loved the combination of broiled pineapple, avocado, red onion and citrus dressing in this salad! My version used a combination of mixed greens and something I found called upland cress (because I couldn’t find any watercress.) Upland cress it turns out is a peppery green similar to watercress. Very tasty. I also added sliced radishes for an additional pop of color. For the dressing, I decreased the salt to 1/2 tsp. which was still a little more than I thought was needed. Start with 1/4 tsp., taste the dressing, and then decide whether to add more.

Pineapple broiling tip – I would recommend increasing the sugar to 2 tbsp. Sprinkle 1 tbsp on the top side of the slices, broil, then flip and sprinkle the other side with sugar and finish broiling. I also recommend doing this process at least 30 minutes before serving the salad to give the pineapple time to cool. I didn’t plan enough time for this step, but thankfully Lynda was willing to stand outside on a below zero evening with a chopped pineapple covered cutting board to speed up the process. Now that’s a dedicated foodie friend, right?!

Wine Pairing

For wine, we selected an Albariño as our white offering and Marietta OVR (Old Vine Red) as the other choice. While I typically lean toward whites, I would say the OVR was by far the more successful pairing.

Dessert

Cuatro Leches

Rick & Tracey treated us to Cuatro Leches cake for dessert. Cuatro Leches translates to 4 milks – evaporated, condensed, whole and dulce de leche. Seriously folks, you could drink this cake it’s so moist!  The first three milks are incorporated into the cake, and then it’s topped with the dulce de leche (caramel sauce.) Toasted chopped almonds and chocolate sprinkles provide the final flourish. If you’re wondering whether this cake tastes as good as it looks, the answer is Yes! *Recipe provided at bottom of post*

Wine Pairing

Moscato d’Asti, a sparkling sweet wine, was a great selection for this course, both for its sweetness and its refreshing effervescence.

Enjoy the recipe links included throughout this post as well as the Cuban Sandwich Empanada and Cuatro Leches cake recipes provided below. Salud!

Cuban Sandwich Empanadas & Cuatro Leches Cake

Cuban Sandwich Empanadas & Cuatro Leche Cake from our Cuban Gourmet Group dinner

5 from 3 votes

Print Pin Rate

Servings: 0

Author: Empanadas – The Ultimate Comfort Food Cookbook and Cuatro Leches Cake – Inspired by the Private Restaurants of Cuba by Anya Von Bremzen

Ingredients

Cuban Sandwich Empanadas

Roast Pork Filling:

• 3/4 pound boneless country-style pork ribs
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup mustard
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

Empanada Dough:

• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cold unsalted butter cut into 1/4-inch cubes
• 1 large egg
• 1/3 cup water

Stuffing:

• 16 pickle slices
• 8 Swiss cheese slices
• 8 ham slices

Egg Wash:

• 1 large egg
• 2 tablespoons water

Mustard Aioli

• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup mustard
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1/2 teaspoon prepared horseradish
• 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 or 3 drops hot sauce
• 1 clove garlic grated
• Juice of 1/2 lemon

Cuatro Leche Cake

Cake

• 1 1/2 c. flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 c. unsalted butter room temperature
• 1 c. sugar
• 5 large eggs
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Milk Mixture

• 2 c. whole milk
• 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
• 12 oz. can evaporated milk

Glaze

• 13 oz. jar dulce de leche
• 3/4 c. almonds toasted and chopped
• 1/4 c. dark chocolate sprinkles or shaved dark chocolate

Instructions

Cuban Sandwich Empanadas

Roast pork filling:

• Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.
• Chop the pork into 1-inch cubes. Toss in the vinegar, mustard and Worcestershire sauce. Place in an oven-safe frying pan or small baking dish and cover with foil. Bake for 2 1/2 hours, stirring once halfway through the cooking time. Remove from the oven and shred the pork with the cooking liquid. If there is a lot of excess cooking liquid, use a slotted spoon to remove the pork from the excess sauce before using it in the empanadas.

Dough:

• Mix the flour and butter in a bowl. With your fingers, work the butter into the flour until it creates small crumbs. Then beat the egg into the water and pour the water/egg mixture into the flour and mix with a fork. Once it comes together, begin kneading with your hands until the dough is smooth, but not too long because you don’t want to soften the butter too much. Refrigerate for at least 15 minutes.

Stuff it!:

• Roll out the empanada dough into 8 thin rounds. Place half a slice of Swiss cheese followed by a slice of ham, one-eighth of the pork filling, 2 pickle slices, and another half a slice of Swiss cheese onto each round, placing them off to one side. Fold the round over and seal by lightly wetting the edge with your finger. Fold the edge of the dough over itself repeatedly from one end to the other to form the traditional empanada look.

Bake

• You can bake or fry these empanadas. To fry, heat vegetable oil in a Dutch oven to 350 degrees F. Gently drop in your empanada and let it cook until browned, about 2 minutes. If you want to bake it, set the oven to 400 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper, placing the empanadas on top. Beat the egg with the water and brush it evenly over the tops of the empanadas. Bake until golden brown, about 30 minutes.

Mustard Aioli

• For the mustard aioli: In a bowl, combine the mayonnaise, mustard, lemon zest, horseradish, dry mustard, salt, hot sauce, garlic and lemon juice. Mix well. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

Cuatro Leche Cake

Cake

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9″ baking pan.
• In medium bowl, stir together flour and baking powder. Set aside.
• In a large mixing bowl, using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Add the vanilla and beat to incorporate. Gradually add the dry mixture to the wet mixture, mixing until well blended. Scrape down the bowl with a spatula and pour batter into prepared pan.
• Bake for 30 minutes, or until light golden brown or a knife inserted comes out clean. Let cool slightly, and with a skewer, poke holes evenly all around the cake.

Milk Mixture

• In a mixing bowl, combine the whole milk, condensed milk and evaporated milk. Pour over the top of the cake.

Glaze

• In a small saucepan, heat the dulce de leche and 1/4 c. water over medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring to combine. Remove from the heat and let cool for 2 minutes, Pour over the cake and top with almonds and sprinkles.

Notes

Cuban Sandwich Empanadas adapted from Stuffed: The Ultimate Comfort Food Cookbook. Mustard Aioli courtesy of Haylie Duff from the show “The Real Girl’s Kitchen.”
Cuatro Leche Cake courtesy of Paladares: Recipes Inspired by the Private Restaurants of Cuba by Anya Von Bremzen

Nutrition

Serving: 8g