Vaca Frita With A Tropical Tuber Hash Cake And Caramelized Onions Recipes

VACA FRITA

Steps:

• To a large pot, add steak, bay leaves, carrot, tomato, cumin, and oregano and cover with water. Boil the meat until it becomes tender, then remove from the liquid, and shred the meat. Into a very hot saute pan pour 1/8 cup olive oil, then add the meat, making sure to spread it out evenly. Flip it over and cook until both sides become crispy. In a separate pan, add the remaining oil and cook the onions until caramelized, then mix in the meat, cilantro, and lime juice. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

VACA FRITA WITH A TROPICAL TUBER HASH CAKE AND CARAMELIZED ONIONS

Steps:

• For the Marinade:
• Season the meat with cumin and black pepper. Sear it in high heat until nicely browned on all sides in a hot skillet with a touch of canola oil. Reserve.
• Heat the meat broth in a saucepan over low heat.
• Heat a large soup pot on medium heat with the bacon in it. Stir. When the bacon is almost cooked, add the butter. Allow the buttter to melt. Now add the garlic, red onion, carrot, celery, and bay leaf. Turn up the heat to fairly high. Cook about 10 minutes or until the point where some caramelization has occurred. Now add the broth and the skirt steak. Bring to a boil. Skim off any impurities and reduce the heat to medium-low. Cook for 1 1/2 hours.
• Strain off the broth through a fine strainer and reserve the meat in a bowl to cool slightly. Discard the vegetables.
• Reduce the cooking broth to a fairly intense consistency and reserve.
• Place each piece of meat on a cutting board and cover it with plastic wrap. Pound the meat with a hammer to cause the meat to separate into strands. Pull the meat apart and put it in a bowl.
• Mix the marinade ingredients together well and add them to the shredded meat. Allow the marinade to season the meat overnight in the refrigerator. The next day: Discard the marinade and allow the meat to warm up a little before cooking it for the second time.
• Heat a large skillet. Add a little light cooking oil and fry the meat in it, stirring well, until crispy and brown. Season with salt and pepper. Reserve the meat in a bowl. "Dress" the shredded cooked strands of meat in a ratio of 17 ounces of meat to 5 ounces of the reduced broth. (Reserve the extra broth to spoon around the hash cake.) Reserve.
• Form the hash cake in the bottom of each serving dish. Top with the Caramelized Onions and the cooked meat. Serve with more of the broth.
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Peel, dice, and blanch the sweet potato, bonito, and yucca. Toss with the butter, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Oven roast until all are easily pierced with a small knife. Place them in a bowl.
• Saute the bacon until it starts to crisp. Add the butter and vegetables and saute. Remove from the heat while still al dente.
• Mix together the roasted garlic, vinegar, parsley, and cilantro. Toss with the roasted potatoes and the sauteed vegetables. Reheat in the oven to order.
• Heat a large saute pan over high heat. Add the olive oil and butter. When it begins to foam, add the onions and stir well once to coat. Now let it caramelize nicely, stirring and pushing the onions around only a little bit from time to time. When the onions are nicely colored, about 8 to 10 minutes, turn the heat down to medium and cook another 10 minutes.
• Now sprinkle the sugar over them. Stir gently again and let cook for 1 minute. Now add the vinegar and stir 1 last time. Let reduce until almost no liquid remains, about 1 to 2 minutes. Season the onions and remove them to a bowl until needed. Keep warm.

VACA FRITA RECIPE - (4.5/5)

Steps:

• Instructions: Place the steak in a pot or deep pan, and just enough water until the beef is covered. Add the bay leaves and peppercorns. Cover the pot, and simmer until the meat is tender, about 1 ½ hours. Remove pot from heat, and allow the contents to cool down. When the steak is still warm but not especially hot, remove it from the pot. On a plate or in a nonreactive container, shred the beef using two forks, or pull the beef apart using your fingers. Add the seasonings, sherry and lime juice, and mix them into the beef using your hands. Set aside. Add two tablespoons of olive oil to a frying pan over medium heat. Add onions, bell peppers, and sautee until the onions are tender (about 5-8 minutes). Turn the heat up to medium-high, then add the shredded beef. Cook the beef for 5-15 minutes, until it is crispy. Remove from heat and serve with lime wedges. It can be served by itself, with white rice on the side, or with moros y cristianos. Serves 4-6. Cooking Variations For some, it is common to place the cooled pot in the fridge after the meat has simmered, and let it marinate overnight before frying the following day. The leftover beef broth can also be used for soups or other recipes. Rather than shred the beef, some Cubans will simply cut the meat (with the grain) into small strips after simmering. In that case, after cutting the beef you will want to pound it with a mallet until the pieces are about half as thick as before. Not everyone cooks vaca frita with bell peppers, so it's not uncommon to leave them out. And although some cooks will add a splash of lime juice to the beef immediately after cooking, adding lime wedges means people can squeeze juice on as they see fit.

CARAMELIZED ONIONS

Steps:

• Melt butter in large skillet over medium heat. Add onions and toss to coat with butter. Cover and slowly cook onions, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes or until a golden Color is reached. Turn heat up to medium high and begin to brown the onions, stirring constantly about 10 more minutes. Season with salt and pepper.