A Habana Cafe Inspired Recipe

So as you may remember in a recent post, I had delicious meal at my favorite Cuban restaurant, Habana Cafe while in Gulfport Florida back in May. So when I put some rice on to cook and was looking around trying to think of what I wanted to make for dinner, I thought black beans and shrimp and then I thought, Cuban Black Beans and Shrimp!

And voila! About 30 minutes later I was sitting down to my own homemade version of that oh so memorable meal after a quick search for how to make Cuban Black Beans!

Shrimp in Coconut and Butter Garlic Sauce:

1 Bag Raw Shrimp (I used the 20-25 count size so they were about the size of my thumb, fairly large)
1 lemon
4 cloves of Garlic diced
1-2 tbsp Extra Virgin Coconut Oil
2-4 tbs unsalted butter
1/4 to 1/2 cup white wine (Pinot Grigio or Chardonnay works well)
1/2 tsp salt and 1/2-1 tsp black pepper

1. Thaw shrimp in cold water. Yes, COLD not warm, cold water! (They actually thaw much faster in cold)
2. Mince Garlic
3. Once shrimp are thaw, put Coconut Oil and Butter in a pan and heat to medium. Add garlic while pan is still heating up.
4. Let garlic cook 1-2 minutes (just want to soften, not crisp or burn!)
5. Add Shrimp and wine. Zest lemon and squeeze 1/2 lemon into pan. Add salt and pepper
6. Cook shrimp til tender but not overdone... about 2-3 minutes per side at Medium(4-6) to High(6-9) heat.

Serve with black beans over rice, use liquid as a sauce over rice. Option- serve rest of lemon in wedges to be squeezed over plate.

Cuban Style Black Beans:
via Marta of Babalublog
This is not exactly like Marta's but her's laid the base for how I made mine!

2 Tbsp. of Extra Virgin Coconut Oil
1/4 Large red onion diced
1/2 Red bell pepper diced
2 cloves of garlic, diced
1 can of black beans 
1/4 cup of red or white wine
1 tsp. of sugar 
1/2 tsp. oregano
1 packet of Goya seasoning with azafran- *I didn't have this so I just used a pinch of saffron from my stash and 1 tsp Cumin!
salt and pepper to taste


1. Dice onion, pepper and garlic. Heat black iron skillet to medium with Extra Virgin Coconut Oil. Toss diced veggies in.
2. Let veggies cook 3-5 minutes on medium to medium low heat.
3. Partially drain black beans but leave some of the juice in can (if you like your beans more swimming than don't drain at all)
4. Pour wine into pan and stir veggies. Then add black beans.
5. Add seasonings- sugar, Goya Seasoning or Cumin and Saffron, oregano,salt, pepper
6. Let cook on medium for 5-10 minutes or let simmer on low while you cook rest of your meal!

Serve alone or over rice!

I made this recipe in about 30 minutes! It was simple but definitely in the Delicious of the Most category!