I am sure most of you are familiar with Chili Con Carne. It’s a spicy and hot dish which my children just love to devour with hot steaming rice . There is another bean dish that is quite the opposite of the Chili Con Carne. It has a sweet taste to it. With ingredients like chorizo bilbao, bacon and pata, you can just imagine the combination of these yummy flavors. Baked Beans was one of the first dishes that my sister, Myrna and I first cooked when we lived independently after college.

Ingredients
1/2 kilo red kidney beans
1 pork pata or leg, front (1 kilo)
3 medium sized onions
1/2 cup oil
20 grams garlic, minced
1 small can tomato paste
1/4 lb bacon
2 small chorizo bilbao, sliced
5 pieces hotdog, sliced
1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
dash of pepper
salt to taste
2-3 tablespoon brown sugar

Directions

1. Wash pata or leg well. Wash red beans.

2. Place both in a saucepan together with one whole peeled onion. Add enough water to cover.

3. Boil together with about one tablespoon salt until beans are cooked and pata is tender, taking care that the beans do not get too mushy.

- If beans are ready before the pata, remove former and continue the latter.

- When tender, remove the neat of the pata from the bones and cut into cubes. Set aside.

4. Heat oil. Saute garlic and two remaining onions, previously peeled and diced.

5. Add cubed pata, sliced chorizo, sliced hotdogs, and beans.

6. Mix in tomato paste and enough broth to make a mixture which is not too soupy.

7. Season with worcestershire sauce, soy sauce and pepper.

8. Let simmer for about 10 minutes.

9. Transfer mixture to two rectangular pyrex dishes (1o” x 6″ x 2″)

10. Lay strips of bacon on top.

11. Sprinkle with brown sugar.

12. Bake at 350 F until bacon is golden brown.

Enjoy!