Ropa Vieja Daisy Recipes

ROPA VIEJA (CUBAN BEEF)

Steps:

• Cut flank steak in half across the grain. Mix salt, black pepper, and cayenne. Season both sides generously with the salt mixture.
• Heat olive oil in a pot over high heat. Add steaks and cook until outsides are well browned, 4 to 5 minutes per side. Remove steaks to a plate.
• Reduce heat to medium. Add red onion, garlic, and more of the salt seasoning. Cook and stir until starting to soften, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in cumin, paprika, oregano, cayenne pepper, cloves, and allspice. Cook and stir for 1 minute. Pour in white wine, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Stir in tomato sauce and chicken broth.
• Return beef and accumulated juices to the pot. Season with salt and add bay leaves. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer until beef is almost fork-tender, not falling apart, about 2 hours.
• Remove pot from heat and let stew cool to room temperature, at least 45 minutes. Refrigerate, 8 hours to overnight, for best results.
• Remove beef to a plate and set stew over medium heat. Tear beef along the grain into 1/8- to 1/4-inch-wide shreds; place back in the stew. Add bell peppers, poblanos, smoked paprika, capers, olives, and sugar. Stir together and reduce heat to medium. Simmer until peppers are soft and meat is tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Turn off heat, remove bay leaves, and stir in cilantro.

ROPA VIEJA

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• Pat the flank steak completely dry with a paper towel. Cut in half or thirds (across the grain) if needed to fit into your pot in a single layer. Season with 2 teaspoons salt.
• Heat the olive oil in a medium Dutch oven or a large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Working in batches if necessary, add the steak in a single layer and cook until a deep brown crust develops, 5 to 8 minutes on each side. Remove to a plate and set aside.
• Add the onions and peppers to the same pot. Season with 1 teaspoon salt and a few cracks black pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables have softened, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the garlic, cumin and oregano; stir until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the tomato paste and cook, stirring, until it starts to develop color, about 1 minute. Add the vino seco to deglaze and cook, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon. Add the tomato sauce, beef stock and bay leaf. Stir to incorporate. Nestle the steak in the sauce, submerging it slightly. Be sure to add any accumulated juices from the plate.
• Cover and cook in the oven until the meat shreds easily with two forks, about 1 hour 30 minutes.
• Transfer the pot back to the stovetop. Remove the steak to a cutting board or medium bowl and shred into long thin pieces using two forks. Meanwhile, simmer the sauce over low heat until slightly reduced, about 3 minutes. Return the steak to the pot and stir to combine. Add the lime juice and olives, capers or pimientos, if using.
• Serve with white rice and black beans.

ULTIMATE ROPA VIEJA

Steps:

• Pat the beef dry and sprinkle with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
• Heat a little oil in a Dutch oven over high heat. Once very hot add the beef and brown generously on all sides. Transfer the beef to a plate. (Do not discard the drippings and blackened bits in the pot, they are key to the flavor.)
• Add the sliced vegetables to the pot and cook over medium heat for 15-20 minutes until caramelized. Add the garlic and spices and cook for another minute. Add the white wine and bring it to a rapid boil, deglazing the bottom of the pan (scraping up the browned bits on the bottom of the pan).
• Add the broth, crushed tomatoes, tomato paste and bay leaves. Simmer for 5 minutes.
• Return the roast to the pot along with the pieces of carrots and celery. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for 3-4 hours or until the beef is fork tender and falls apart easily. Discard the celery, carrots and bay leaves.
• Transfer the beef to a plate and shred it. Return the shredded beef to the pot.
• Stir in the olives, roasted red peppers, capers and pimientos. Simmer uncovered to thicken the sauce for 30 minutes. Stir in the parsley and add salt and pepper to taste.

ROPA VIEJA RECIPE

Steps:

• Place steak and half each of the onions, green pepper halves and garlic cloves in Dutch oven. Add water and bay leaf. Bring to boil on medium-high heat; cover. Simmer on low heat 2 hours or until steak is tender.
• Cut remaining onion and remaining green pepper halves into thin slices; place in large skillet. Finely chop remaining 2 garlic cloves. Add to skillet along with the dressing; mix well. Cook on medium-high heat 10 min. or until vegetables are tender, stirring frequently.
• Drain steak mixture, reserving 1/2 cup cooking liquid for later use; place steak in shallow pan. Discard vegetables cooked with the steak. Use 2 forks to shred steak. Add to vegetable mixture in skillet; mix well. Cook 2 min. Stir in reserved cooking liquid and remaining ingredients; cook 5 min. or until heated through, stirring occasionally.

ROPA VIEJA

Steps:

• Season beef or pork with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over high until lightly smoking. Working in batches as needed, cook the meat in a single layer, turning occasionally, until well browned on all sides, about 8 minutes per batch, reducing heat as necessary if the oil smokes excessively.
• Add braised peppers and onions, tomatoes, olives, raisins, capers and chicken stock. Scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Bring to a boil, reduce to a bare simmer, cover with the lid slightly cracked, and cook, stirring occasionally and scraping any crust that has formed at the edges of the pan back into the liquid, until meat is completely tender and shreds easily with two forks, about 2 1/2 hours. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
• Shred meat with two forks, and serve immediately with white rice, black beans and hearty greens. Ropa vieja can also be shredded, allowed to cool, and stored in the fridge for up to 1 week. It will improve in texture and flavor with time.

MARGARITA'S CUBAN ROPA VIEJA

Steps:

• Brown the flank steak and then transfer to crock pot or deep roast pan.
• Sautee' green peppers and when softened, add onion, and garlic and seaxonings.
• Once softened, add tomatoes. Stir together and pour over flank steak.
• Add red wine to mixture and stir inches Flank steak should now be fully submerged in the sauce.
• Cover and heat to boiling. Reduce afterwards to simmer and cook for an hour, occasionally stirring the Ropa Vieja.
• After an hour, remove the meat from the liquid and let sit for ten minutes.
• Taking two forks, create super stringy strips out of the flank steak by scraping and moving the forks through the meat. The meat will naturally separate into stringy pieces.
• Return the stringy flank steak back to the liquid,.
• Add raisins, green olives and sugar. Simmer covered another twenty minutes.
• Serve on a bed of rice. http://www.cubancuisine.co.uk.

EASY ROPA VIEJA STEW

Steps:

• In a large skillet, brown beef in oil on all sides. Transfer meat to a 5-qt. slow cooker. Add onions and peppers. Combine tomatoes, water, garlic, cilantro, beef bouillon, pepper, cumin and oregano; pour over vegetables., Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or until meat is tender. Remove beef; cool slightly. Skim fat from cooking juices; stir in olives. Shred beef with two forks and return to slow cooker; heat through. Serve with rice if desired. Freeze option: Transfer individual portions of stew to freezer containers and freeze. To use, partially thaw in refrigerator overnight. Heat through in a saucepan, stirring occasionally and adding a little water if necessary.

ZARELA MARTINEZ'S ROPA VIEJA

Steps:

• Cut the flank steak in half horizontally so it will fit into a large Dutch oven. Place it in the pot and cover it with the water. Add the six whole cloves of garlic, along with the peppercorns and salt as desired. Place over low heat and bring the liquid to a simmer. Cover the Dutch oven and continue cooking over low heat, turning the meat occasionally, until it is tender and well done, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
• While the meat is stewing, heat the broiler. Rinse and dry the peppers. Arrange them in a broiler pan about four inches from the flame. Roast them, turning frequently, until they are evenly blistered and charred on all sides. Transfer to a paper bag, seal it and let the peppers sit until cool enough to handle.
• Remove the cooled peppers from the bag and slice off the top of each. Scrape out the seeds and slip off the skins with your fingers (wear rubber gloves if your hands are sensitive). Slice each pepper lengthwise into strips an eighth of an inch wide. Set aside.
• When the meat is tender, remove the Dutch oven from the heat and let the meat cool in its own broth. When it cools enough to handle, remove it from the broth and place it on a cutting board. Slice the meat across the grain into strips about two inches across. Using your fingers, pull the meat into fine shreds. Return it to the cooking broth.
• Heat the lard or other fat in a large heavy skillet over medium heat until it is rippling. Crush the sliced garlic cloves and add to the hot fat. Saute for one minute, stirring frequently. Add the sliced onion and saute, stirring frequently, until it is somewhat soft, about three minutes. Add the reserved pepper strips to the pan and continue sauteing and stirring for about two minutes.
• Using a slotted spoon, transfer the peppers, onion and garlic to the Dutch oven. Cook the meat mixture, uncovered, over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the flavors are blended, about 10 to 15 minutes. Serve the meat hot, rolled up in heated flour tortillas.

RICK'S CARIBBEAN ROPA VIEJA

Steps:

• Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat, and cook the onion and mushrooms until lightly browned. Place flank steak in the skillet, and brown on all sides. Pour in the wine. Reduce heat to low, and continue cooking 30 minutes, or until meat is very tender. Remove meat, shred, and return to skillet.
• Pour coconut milk into the skillet. Mix in sour cream, coconut flakes, brown sugar, allspice, salt, and pepper. Continue cooking 10 minutes, or until heated through.