- [Sara] Sara's Weeknight Meals is made possible by Sunsweet and ... - Cooking is the first kind of love you know.

It was starting when I was child with my grandmother doing fresh pasta and now I transmit it to all the guests with something made specially for them.

- [Announcer] Oceania Cruises, proud sponsor of Sarah's Weeknight Meals.

(lively music) - Lovers of Miami love Cuban food and so do I.

Today we'll discover both by tasting our way through Miami's Little Havana neighborhood starting with Cuban coffee that's like rocket fuel, whoa.

Moving onto empanadas, ice cream, mojitos and Cuban sandwiches.

Don't mind if I do.

Mm, very nice.

- Oh yeah.

- Maricel Presilla is a legendary Cuban cook.

She's in my kitchen today with a zucchini and sofrito dish, you don't have to be a vegetarian to love.

- And so spicy.

- Whoa, is that wonderful.

- It is.

- Cubans adore their abuelas.

Later in the show, I'm cooking with the real deal.

Lucila Jimenez cooks a dish she learned from her own grandmother back in Cuba.

- Camarones enchilados, which is shrimp and garlic and sofrito sauce which is like- - Yummy.

Plus- - Plantanos maduros.

We have plantains every day in one way or another.

- Salud, amor, y pesetas.

Salud health, amor love, and pasetas is wealth or money.

- What else do you make?

Delicious Cuban food, today on Sara's Weeknight Meals.

(lively Latin music) (soft instrumental music) The sun, the surf, the palms, the sand.

There's nothing like Miami.

(lively music) It's home to the best Cuban food in the country.

Because in the '60's thousands fled Castro's Cuba to make a vibrant home here on Calle Ocho, Little Havana.

(lively Latin music) Today, I'm tasting my way through it at the legendary El Pub with Grace Della the founder of Miami Culinary Tours.

- You know, I'm gonna get you started with some cafe Cubano.

- I love that.

- And you always get little cups and then a big cup.

It's mean to be shared.

Never drink from the big cup, otherwise everybody will know you're visiting.

- Okay.

- It's very strong, so be ready, okay?

- No, I like my coffee.

- Good morning.

- Oh, I love this, okay.

- Cafe good?

- Wow, there is a lot of sugar in them there hills.

- Yes.

- Oh my goodness, is that like half sugar?

- Yes.

- Woo!

- Absolutely, and very strong, right?

- I'm loving it, but I have to be honest normally I drink my coffee black with nothing in it, nothing.

Okay then, I'm not responsible for my actions after this.

- You know, by default, they serve it with sugar.

- Yes.

- We call this also like a wake-up call.

- I should say so, you're gonna have to peel me off the ceiling.

(lively music) Why are we starting here?

- This is called El Pub restaurant, they've been here for 25 to 30 years.

Locals come here to have that great Cuban food that they miss from home.

You will see the same faces, many, many years.

When you come here, we do like locals, we stand at the coffee station, we have some cafe Cubano and then we'll have some empanadas.

- For breakfast?

- For breakfast, of course.

- Of course, all righty then.

- These are the classic Cuban empanada.

They're made with ground beef and sofrito sauce, red bell peppers, olive oil, garlic, cumin.

- Mm, mm.

So we have the very sweet coffee and the- - And the saltiness of the (speaking foreign language), it's perfect Cuban combination.

- Okay, all right.

(lively Latin music) - Now I'm gonna bring you to the new part of New Havana.

Look, Azucar.

(lively Latin music) You have Celia Cruz on the wall.

- Great singer.

- Great Cuban singer.

She used to scream the word azucar, which means sugar and he we are.

- Okay, perfect, perfect.

- Now the flavors are super creative, Burn in Hell Fidell, sweet plantains, platano maduro or flan.

She perfected those flavors by asking the elderly in the neighborhood, does it taste like in Cuba?

- How smart.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

I'm gonna make you try today one called abuela Maria.

Very sweet, sugar.

- Oh geez.

I'm still recovering from the coffee.

- So you're having guava, cream cheese and Maria cookies.

Now that's a very popular Cuban desert.

- Delicious.

- In the form of an ice cream.

- Wow.

(Cuban music) - To really feel the energy of Little Havana, let me bring you to Ball and Chain.

(lively Latin music) - [Sara] There's always a party here because there's live music with no cover, 90 hours a week.

When owner Bill Fuller reopened Ball and Chain, he kept its historic vibe.

(soft jazz music) - [Bill] Billie Holiday, Count Basie, Chet Baker, Lina Horne all played here.

- Wow!

And wasn't that unusual for the time?

- So the last owner of the Ball and Chain was a man by the name of Henry Scheckler.

Henry was very sensitive to the black entertainers at the time, especially at a moment when they weren't able to stay at hotels in other parts of the city, including Miami Beach.

Henry accommodated them at the Tower Hotel and then many times they would come over here at night and actually play.

Henry's son was once babysat by Billie Holiday.

I always thought that was such a cool thing.

- Whoa.

- To be able to say.

(soft Latin music) - This is the place to party in Miami and a mojito pairs perfectly with that.

- Is this the famous Cuban sandwich?

- (speaking foreign language) medianoche, which in Spanish in Cuba meant that they made the sandwiches at midnight when they came back from work, the bread is sweeter.

So you have pork, cheese, pickles, mustard and ham.

- Mm, very nice, it's pressed, huh?

- Yes, so then the softness and sweetness of the bread combines perfect with the saltiness of the pork.

(Latin music) - I'm loving Little Havana and its food, but it's time to cook.

(lively Latin music) What makes many of my guest's Maricel Presilla's dishes so special is the thoughtful combination of fresh ingredients she uses in her recipes.

We're making some amazing vegetarian zucchini dish today.

- It was a desperation meal.

- A desperation?

what do you mean, a desperate- - A desperation meal for my husband on a date where I didn't have any protein in my refrigerator.

I'm not a vegetarian.

- No, so am I- - We eat chicken, beef or pork, but I have a garden.

I went to my garden and I found this oversized zucchini, it's like a little piglet.

- I would've put that right in the compost heap.

- Like a two pounder and I had cherry tomatoes and, of course, in Cuba, we make a cooking sauce sofrito with very small tomatoes.

- Oh!

- Cherry tomatoes and I get a wild taste of the cherry tomatoes.

I started looking in my pantry and sure enough I had everything I needed for a fabulous vegetarian meal with a lot of spirit and backbone.

- Well, there you go.

All right, so I'm excited and I love vegetables.

I like eating more vegetables, I love vegetables.

- I have been getting my fresh oregano ready.

But before that, I pounded about four garlic cloves to a paste.

I'm a mortar and pestle girl, where you are a knife queen.

No, I'm a knife girl, you're a mortar and pestle girl, there you go.

- I am mortar and pestle.

Chopping releases a set of aromas and pounding like this does something completely different.

- Do you need me meanwhile to get some oil?

- What I'd like you to do is pour about a quarter cup of extra virgin olive oil.

- Okay, yeah.

- I haven't turned this into a pulp really.

I want a little bit of texture.

I want people to find pieces of garlic here.

I think this is the right moment.

- Okay.

(pan sizzling) - This is about 10 seconds.

- [Sara] All right, and then the onions?

- And I just want you to add the onions right now.

- Okay, onions go right in.

- I like to cut them in a julienne because this way I will basically use them as a vegetable, as opposed to simple ingredient for a cooking sauce.

Now, a good Cuban sofrito needs to have time.

You need to soften the onions, but then go even further and sometimes caramelize the onions.

But we're gonna treat this in a lighter way.

- Okay, we're gonna do it more quickly- - Exactly.

- Is what you're saying?

- Exactly, because I want the vegetables, let the onion have a character of his own.

- Right.

- [Maricel] I don't want it to disappear.

- And sofrito is your sort of, what is it literally mean, sauce?

- It means that you're sauteing a number of flavoring vegetables.

Garlic and onion is a very ancient, medieval- - And they're always in a sofrito?

- Cooking sauce.

You know, you always saute them and, of course, in the medieval sofrito you only had onions or leeks and garlic.

But, of course, this is an American ingredient.

Okay, let's- - Okay, in go the tomatoes.

- It's fabulous and gorgeous.

Now, we're gonna season this, about a teaspoon- - Okay.

- Of sea salt.

I am going to add cumin, which is essential in the Cuban sofrito, about half a teaspoon.

I'm gonna add like a little pinch of allspice.

- You know that's interesting to me, I associate allspice with- - And a quarter teaspoon of- - Jamaica.

- Well, Jamaica, and my hometown are very close.

- This is true.

- Down in Cuba, we're right across from each other.

- And allspice for those people who don't know is actually a berry, right?

- It is a berry.

- And it taste like- - And it has, it tastes like many spices, that's why it's called in English allspice.

We call it (speaking foreign language) the fat pepper.

- The fat pepper, that's funny.

- The fat pepper.

And one thing that we also love is oregano so I'm adding fresh oregano, about one tablespoon.

You see, I want the oregano to be seen.

- Okay, okay, so you didn't chop it, I see what you're saying.

- No, I did not.

(knife chopping) Now you have two restaurants and a sort of grocery store in Hoboken.

- Yes, I opened a store called Ultramarinos, which means from beyond the sea.

It's right next to Zafra, my first born.

- Zafra?

- Zafra, yes that's the Cuban place.

Five years ago, I opened Cucharamama, which means mother spoon, which is a South American place.

- Mother spoon?

- Mother spoon.

- Why mother spoon?

- Because I was doing research in the Andes, Cuenca and Guadalajara and women there used gigantic spoon, not tiny like this, but huge to stir soup and it's called the mother spoon.

- Well that makes sense.

- They use it to hit their husbands when they get drunk.

- Okay good I like that.

- And to when the kids- - Multipurpose spoon, yeah.

- When the kids, so I thought that it was really representative of the women who cook and the women who cook well and have control over their lives and kitchens.

We have big spoons everywhere in the restaurant.

- Okay, does this go in now?

- It goes in there.

I want you to do something for me now.

I want you to stir, while I make something very special, called picada.

A picada, it's a Catalan preparation.

It's kind of a secondary cooking sauce that adds texture and flavor at the end of the cooking process.

For that basically, all you need is a little bit of garlic.

We have some toasted almonds right here.

- We toasted them in the oven?

- Exactly.

- And a surprise ingredient, which is a- - What is that?

- This is a cacao mix.

- Oh my goodness.

- This are the roasted and peeled cacao beans, that have been crushed into nibs.

About a quarter cup of this.

If you don't have this, if you cannot find it in a specialty store, you can use what is called raw chocolate.

- Raw chocolate.

- This is Ecuadorian raw chocolate, this is 70%, but you can use 100% too.

Just basically, actually for the heck of it, we can- - Why not?

- A little bit of this.

- I'm fascinated by this.

- Yes, it will add depth and character to this dish and what I need now is parsley and you know your refrigerator- - Oh, I'll get it, right here.

Yes, I do, let me get you some parsley.

Oh, dare I say, this is a little bit like when the Mexicans add chocolate to their mole?

- Absolutely.

- Okay.

- What is the purpose of it?

It's to deepen flavor, to add color, yes.

- Just like this?

- Yes.

- Okay, flat leaf parsley, there we go.

- Exactly.

You don't need to do a paste.

You just need to crush this.

The name picada means chopped, so we're basically chopping with our mortar and pestle.

I love it and I think it's something that belongs to women.

- I agree.

- Look at the shape.

- Yeah.

- While a knife is something that belongs to a man, I think.

- Right, right.

- [Sara] Wow, that's really getting fine.

- [Maricel] It's getting fine.

- You got some muscle in there.

- Absolutely, this is a good pestle.

So now we're ready to stir this into- - In there, okay.

- And I'm just gonna add this, I think this is ready.

- It's the right amount?

Okay, let me- - Let me stir it.

- Up to- - This is our backbone.

This is the mysterious ingredient.

- The je ne sais quoi.

- Exactly.

- And do we wanna add our- - So now, we're gonna add about a cup of water or chicken broth, if you're not a strict vegetarian, of course.

- Or vegetable broth- - Or vegetable broth.

- Okay, there we we go.

- That's it.

This is just perfect at this point, so we'll cover it.

Actually, you know what I should do is I was planning to do this at the end, but I like to do it here.

- So what was that?

- This is one serrano.

- One serrano chili?

- Finely chopped.

You could do it at the end, but I think it's better- - You just felt like adding it in?

- Yes, absolutely.

- I can see you're a wild woman in the kitchen.

- Yes, I am.

- You keep changing your mood and doing something else.

- But that's just what cooking's all about.

- It is.

- So five minutes.

- Five minutes, okay we're just gonna wait.

- In the meantime, I want you to make a chiffonade with the- - Zucchini blossoms.

- Zucchini blossoms.

- Okay.

- And you know what else would be fantastic?

If we had tomato leaves.

- I've never heard of that before.

- They're so amazing as an ingredient.

They have a tomatoey essence.

We're gonna use, we're gonna leave about three for garnish and the rest, let's do a nice chiffonade.

- So you just want a very thin slice.

- Exactly.

- Okay.

- And we'll do it just, we'll just stir it at the end.

Because I don't want them to overcook and become limp and- - This adds a very delicate, nice taste.

- [Maricel] And also beautiful color.

- [Sarah] These are fun, this is what turns into a zucchini.

- [Maricel] I stuff them with cheese.

I batter fry them, use them as garnish, eat them raw.

- [Sarah] Do you think it's ready yet?

- I think I need to taste this.

- You must- - So give me a tasting spoon please.

- And that was homemade chicken broth.

I just love working with it, I think it makes such a difference.

- Wow, it's perfect, Sara and so spicy.

- Whoa, is that wonderful!

- It is.

- I love it.

- I mean the cayenne and the serrano.

- But you know what?

But I think it's balanced because there's sort of natural sweetness in there.

- I would put in a pinch of salt, a little bit more.

- Okay, I will do that.

And then shall we plate up?

- Absolutely.

But let's add the- - You want that to go right on top?

Boy, so you just use them all the time?

- Look at this, this is so- - Oh my gosh.

- Gorgeous.

- I think it's like an A+ in visuals.

- Yes, this is just beautiful.

- We've got to serve the rice on the side is what we said, right?

- On the side.

What you can also do is have some Napa cabbage.

- Okay, you put those on however you want.

- Oh, like this.

- Oh, that is so pretty.

- And like this.

- Wow, this is very exciting.

- This way I would like to add a little bit of the- - Oregano on top?

- Oregano.

- Yeah, just for a little more green.

- Exactly.

- [Sara] And we've got some rice over here.

- Wow that looks- - And if you have some avocado that will be also nice.

- Lovely.

(soft Latin music) The year was 1960, Castro's revolution, had changed Cuba forever.

But 13-year-old Lucila Jimenez' mind was not on politics but parties and boys, one in particular, a young medical student bound for the US.

Thousands of Cubans fled to Florida then and eventually so did Lucila.

Here she is in Key West, the day she arrived.

And the medical student, they reunited and married.

50 years later, seven grandchildren call her abuela.

Along the way, she started a successful chain of bakeries in Miami.

She still loves cooking the dishes she learned from her own grandmother back in Cuba, this is one of them.

(soft Latin music) What are we making today?

- Camarones enchilados, which is shrimp and garlic and sofrito sauce, which is like creole.

- Yummy, yummy, okay.

You're getting the garlic ready and I'm getting the onion ready.

- One large onion.

- And is this a typical Cuban dish?

- Yes it is.

I remember back in Cuba, the seafood, shrimps and all of that was a lot cheaper to buy so people ate a lot of seafood and fish at least in my house, we did.

Because my parents loved it, so.

(soft Latin music) We're gonna add half a cup of olive oil.

- We need to let it heat up for just half a second.

Tell me about sofrito, it's a- - You know everything you have in Cuban cooking you use a sofrito more or less.

- [Sara] So sofrito is essentially vegetables?

- Vegetables, yes.

- Always onion, always pepper.

- And always garlic and tomato sauce.

(soft Latin music) - That's a lot of garlic.

- I chopped six cloves of garlic and a sliced green pepper.

- [Sara] Garlic is very Cuban, also, right?

- Very Cuban, yes, we can do a lot of things with garlic.

- [Sara] So how long do we cook this now before we add the red peppers?

- Oh only a couple of minutes.

- Just til it welts?

- Yes, until it welts a little bit and that's it.

- Okay.

Well does that look pretty good?

- Yeah, that looks pretty good.

- It's nice and softened.

- We can put the roasted peppers.

- [Sara] I've chopped two big roasted red peppers.

- [Lucila] We're gonna add a can of tomato sauce.

- So that's 15 ounces?

- And we can put the wine.

A cup of wine.

- A cup of wine.

Dry, white wine.

- Yes.

I'm gonna tell you what I do at home.

That is put the wine in the can.

- What a brilliant idea.

Because there's all that stuff left in there.

- Yeah, all the stuff.

- I'm also gonna make sure that it all goes in there I'm gonna- - And you get everything in there.

- Yup.

- Good, bay leaves and the salt and- - Okay, one bay leaf and a little bit of crushed pepper.

- Oh, and you run it between your hands?

- Yes.

- You're a brave woman.

Okay, and then how much salt?

I'm gonna let you do the salt.

- Hefty pinch?

- Right.

- Okay, and then how long does it simmer?

- I would simmer for 15, 20 minutes.

- Wow, so simple.

- And then, that's it.

It is very easy.

- Yeah, yeah.

- Very easy to do.

- I'll give this back to you for future reference.

- Very tasty, actually you can add more salt, you can add more pepper if you like more pepper, that is depends on your own taste.

- Right?

Okay, so we're now gonna make some- - The plantain.

- Oh, okay, so we- - That's my favorite part.

- A second, I mean, I'm gonna move this back here and bring forward the plantain pot.

The dish that we're doing with them, what it's name and what do you say in Spanish?

- Plantanos maduros.

- Maduros.

- What does- - Maduros.

- The maduros mean?

- Ripen and it's one of my favorite dishes.

Not only the plantanos maduros, but all the plantains.

All the plantains are really good.

- I'm gonna watch you now.

- Just cut both ends.

- Both ends off.

- And this is the perfect blackened for maduros, you know?

And you just slice it a little bit.

- You can't just peel it, you have to- - No you have to- - Cut the skin.

- Slice it, yeah.

- Cut the skin.

- And this is easier, the- - You did it on two sides or just one?

- One side.

- Oh, you just did one slit down the back?

- Yeah.

- Oh, okay.

And then you just peel it with your hands?

- And just peel it with your hands.

- Wow, these are- - That's it.

- Very soft.

- Yes, these are good.

- Otherwise, if they are not this ripe they don't taste as sweet.

And you slice it like this.

- You did it sideways.

- Sideways.

- So at a huge angle?

- Yes.

- Is what you're doing.

About how thick?

- About- - Quarter of an inch?

- Yeah.

- Yeah, a third of an inch?

Okay, does that look okay?

- Yeah, that looks beautiful.

- It's 325, should we put the plantains in?

- Yes, sure, we can put them in.

(soft Latin music) (oil sizzling) Oh, they're perfect.

- And they take about how long?

- About 10 minutes.

- Tell me about plantains.

- You can have it ripe and fry like this.

You can have it green and- - Let's line them up.

Let's take a look at these three guys.

- You have green, you can have and the very ripe ones, the ones that we're using here.

- Okay, so what do you use these guys for?

- That one we use it for tostones, which is twice fried green plantains or we can use it for chips, you know for like potato chips, but we call them mariquitas.

- This is closer, it's very starchy, it's like more like a potato?

- Yes.

- It goes from very starchy to very sweet?

- Very sweet.

My great grandmother, who died at 97, she always had one of this at night, in her dinnertime.

Chop it up in like three places, boiled, and she said that was the secret to her longevity.

- Oh geez, okay, I'll have to start investing in green plantains.

- Yes.

- Or is it plantains?

- Plantain.

- Plantain, those look like they're sort of done.

- Yes.

- Aren't they?

- They are, yeah.

- So what do we do now?

We need to drain them.

- We put them, yes.

Actually I can, we're gonna bring them one by one so I can put them, separate it.

- Oh, I see, otherwise do they all sort of smush together?

- Yes, yes.

- And how do you serve these in a meal, as a side dish?

- As a side dish.

- As a garnish?

- Yeah, mm-hmm.

Okay, we're all done in here.

- Okay, wow.

All right, well I am gonna go back and get our sofrito.

- Yes.

- And we are gonna continue with that dish.

And let me get the shrimp, I'm gonna turn this back on.

- Yes, and this look good.

- That looks wonderful.

(lively music) The shrimp just go right in there now?

- Yes, when it's boiling.

- And these are peeled and deveined shrimp?

- Yes.

- Okay.

I see what you mean, if you've made it ahead of time- - Right.

- [Sara] You just heat it up, throw the shrimp and boom, you're done.

- Right.

- [Lucila] And boom, it's done.

- [Sara] We need to make a little garnish, right?

- [Lucila] Yes, some lime and some parsley.

- Chop a little parsley.

- Yes, that will be nice.

See these are almost done and these are big shrimp.

- [Sara] Yeah, it's not a spicy cuisine, though, is it?

- No, Cuban is not spicy at all.

A lot of people ask me if it's like Mexican, I say not at all, yeah, this is done.

- All right.

So should we grab, we've got three.

- Sure.

- And I'll put some rice.

We'll just do two.

- Yes.

- Okay, so we put rice on the bottom, smells good.

All right, and you'll do the shrimp and then we will garnish.

We're all set up outside, we can eat outside.

- Oh that's nice.

- It's a beautiful day out.

- It is, the weather in Miami is just- - Yes.

- Oh here's, oh that's pretty, so a little, ooh, that is gorgeous and how simple was that.

- Yes.

- Okay.

(soft Latin music) - Lemon in there and we can put our plantains.

Even they look very, very dark, that's the way it is good.

- Okay, do we serve them on the side?

- Yeah, we can put them on the side.

- We'll do that.

- Okay.

- Let's go put these on the table and then oh should we take this all out to the backyard?

- Yes, let's go.

- Okay.

(soft Latin music) (soft instrumental music) Well Lucila, who is this handsome young man?

- Well, he has been hanging around for 51 years already.

- Really, oh my goodness.

- This is my husband, Andres.

- Oh Andres, so nice to meet you.

- A pleasure.

- Let's have your wife's yummy food.

- Yes.

- I can't wait to try it.

I'm sure you're a spoiled man.

Mm, oh, that's so good and that was so easy.

Tell me, though, I have to ask you, what is it about Cubans and plantains?

- Well, we have plantains every day in one way or another.

- Every day?

- Practically.

If you don't have it at one meal, you can have it at another meal.

- Mm, mm, mm.

- Plantains are such Cuban thing, that when somebody is married to an American or another country and the people get used to the Cuban food and to the Cuban dance and things like that, they say oh, he's so (speaking foreign language).

- (speaking foreign language).

- Right, it's like a plantain.

- Wow.

- It is really, it's a term already that we use in here all the time, you know?

- You first came over to the United States when you were 15?

- Right.

- And then how did you meet your husband?

- Oh, we met way back in Cuba, when I was 13.

- Woo, excuse me, how old- - I was only 15, only 16.

- He was only 15.

- Oh, I don't know about that.

My goodness, so you really have been sweethearts forever.

- Yes.

- So Lucila, I know you have four bakeries and you still bake.

- Yep.

- Tell me what's in that cake, I can't wait.

- It's a rum cake.

- Rum cake.

- And it's really good, really moist.

- And it's gorgeous.

- Thank you.

- Yeah, now I'm, that's next.

But meantime, I just wanna thank you both for joining me.

However, the question, is there a Cuban toast?

- Salud, amor, y pesetas.

- Okay.

- Salud.

- I like that.

- Amor y pesetas.

But tell me now what does it mean?

- Salud health, amor love and pesetas is wealth or money.

- What else do you need, I like that.

- That's right.

- Yes.

(soft instrumental music) For recipes and videos, go to our website saramoulton.com.

Sara's Weeknight Meals is made possible by Sunsweet and ... - Cooking is the first kind of love you know.

It was starting when I was child with my grandmother doing fresh pasta and now I transmit it to all the guests with something made specially for them.

- [Announcer] Oceania Cruises, proud sponsor of Sara's Weeknight Meals.

(soft piano music) (dramatic music)