He recalls mother’s Puerto Rican roots in his daily cooking

By Theresa Curry

Correspondent

Some household cooks are inspired by what looks good in the store or market; others head out with a recipe in mind. Still others plan ahead for several weeks of meals, buying ingredients in bulk in one giant shopping trip.

“I never do any of that,” said Mike Wesner.His meal-planning relies on the day-to-day wishes of his Virginia Beach family. “My wife or my boy will ask me to make something and I’ll do it.”

Marcie might ask for his meatloaf, her favorite; and Robert, 24, is likely to request chicken pot pie. There’s nothing Wesner likes better than coming home from his job with the city of Virginia Beach and spending time in the kitchen.

“I’ve found it relieves stress,” he said.

Neighbors like his ribs and almost everyone in his circle of friends has had his rice and beans. It’s all done with care and lots of flavor, part of the legacy of his mother, Leticia, who was born in Puerto Rico and gave everything an infusion of cilantro, garlic, tomatoes, onions and peppers.

Wesner uses the sunny tastes of recaito (cilantro base) and sofrito (garlic, pepper, tomato and onion) he learned from her, stirring the concentrated vegetables, herbs and spices by the spoonful into his rice and beans.

There are dozens of versions of this time-honored pairing. Wesner had a chance to sample the classic dish daily for a year or so. He and his two sisters and two brothers lived with his mother and her family in Puerto Rico while his father served a tour in Vietnam.

“I had a cousin, Hasen, who used rice and beans as the foundation for every meal,” he said. “Whatever else was for dinner, she’d just add it. She’d put chunks of chicken in there, or sliced potatoes.”

Wesner sticks to the basic version, giving the rice the slightly crunchy crust preferred by his island relatives.

“We don’t make sticky rice,” he said, “and it’s not soft and wet, either.”

First, the beans. Wesner uses light red kidney beans, preferably dried, although cans will work, too, if you omit the water. He adds them to a pot with garlic and a piece of smoked ham, and then starts the water boiling: twice as much as the volume of beans. Start those several hours before the rice, Wesner advises.

“It’s one of those dishes that, the more you cook it, the better it is,” he said.

He likes the Goya brand recaito and sofrito.

“It’s not unusual for me to use half a jar of each in a pot of rice and beans,” he said. A little tomato goes in at the end – “not too much.”

There’s no need to measure exactly when you cook rice Wesner’s way. He puts some oil in a heavy skillet, adds the rice and enough water to cover it, then starts the water boiling. He covers the skillet, turns the heat to medium and waits for a half hour.

“That’s where people make a mistake,” he said. “Don’t uncover the rice until the half hour is up. Don’t worry: it won’t burn.”

Once you take the cover off the rice, you can test it to see if it’s done. The bottom might be a little crunchy from the heat and the oil, and it will have a golden color.

As the middle child in his large family, Wesner helped his mother in the kitchen. He watched her make what she called “Spanish spaghetti,” a dish made with meat, capers, green olives and tomato puree, layered with spaghetti noodles boiled, then fried in butter and baked in the oven. Since Wesner’s father was a man of German heritage, Leticia also cooked European staples like chicken with cabbage.

“She was just an all-around good cook,” he said.

When he makes lasagna, he’ll take the time to make meatballs, rather than folding sautéed meat into a marinara sauce.

“I use shallots, Parmesan cheese, garlic and bread crumbs,” he said.

After sautéing the meatballs, he cuts them in half before layering them with the lasagna noodles, cheeses and sauce. His meatloaf is a flavorful mixture of two meats, formed and cooked under a blanket of bacon (see recipe).

Wesner has recently lost 120 pounds following gastric bypass surgery, and watches the portions he eats.

“I sometimes wish I had been a chef,” he said, “but then I know I’d look like Paul Prudhomme.” Theresa Curry, flavor@pilotonline.com