A friend of mine, Valerie, asked me if I could come up with a recipe for Ropa Vieja.  It’s a dish that’s tossed around the Hispanic community from culture to culture. Every recipe I have seen has different ingredients and methods behind the madness for these “old clothes”.   One of the things that I saw remained constant was the braising of the meat, pulling it apart, then placing it back in the braising liquid.

I had the basic idea of it so then I proceeded to make it special. It’s still a work in progress but I think all the pieces of it work just fine.  I just wish I had a little sun outside in order to make the colors pop in the picture…..who cares though, I can make it again

Don’t use a crock pot/slow cooker for this….it will not taste right.

Ingredients:

Ropa Vieja

• Flank steak, rubbed with salt and pepper
• Sweet onions, roasted red bell pepper, orange bell pepper, carrot (peeled long as shown)
• Tomato paste
• Merlot
• San Marzano whole tomatoes in juice, 4 of them
• Cumin, dried oregano, adobo (my mix), saffron, salt and pepper, tt.
• Beef stock, don’t use water, use beef stock
• Guajillo pepper, dry
• Lemon rinds, dry…………made my own, they take 20 hours to dehydrate in the oven at 170F
• 2 bay leaves
• Fresh cilantro
• Fresh oregano
• 3 garlic cloves, mashed
• Olive oil

Yellow Rice

• White rice, washed and strained
• Red bell pepper, 1/4 inch dice
• Sweet onion, 1/4 inch dice
• 3 green olives with pimento, minced
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• Fresh oregano and fresh thyme
• Tomato paste
• Saffron, Adobo, Cumin
• 3 San Marzano tomatoes and 1 cup of the juice
• Annatto oil

Cilantro Oil

• Cilantro
• Extra virgin olive oil

Annatto Oil

• Annatto seeds
• Extra virgin olive oil

Avocado Puree

• Avocado
• Salt
• Pepper

Tostones

• Plantain, peeled and cut into 1 1/2 inch medallions
• Canola Oil (I have a deep fryer but you can shallow fry these in a pan)
• Salt and pepper

Procedure:

Ropa Vieja

1. Divide all vegetables in half before you start….there is a reason for this
2. Saute the garlic with a little bit of olive oil in a high sided pot
3. Add the onions and orange bell pepper, sweat it out
4. Add the tomato paste, carrots, and roasted red pepper
5. Once the tomato paste starts to toast deglaze with merlot
6. Add the rest of the ingredients with the exception of the fresh oregano and braise for 2 hours…….save some beef stock just in case you need to add more.
7. Remove flank steak from pot, place in a container and cover with plastic wrap
8. Strain liquid then reduce liquid by 50% and skim off fat
9. Saute the rest of the vegetables that you reserved earlier
10. Add the braising liquid then adjust the seasonings if you need to…..this is when you add the fresh oregano and some more fresh cilantro
11. Shred the meat
12. Add meat into reduced braising liquid

Yellow Rice

1. Saute garlic in annatto oil
2. Sweat the onion and red bell pepper
3. Add tomato paste and toast
4. Add rest of ingredients including water then cook until bubbles start to form at the top of the rice then cover and steam

Tostones

1. Click here

Putting it all together

1. Once you have cooked the tostones place the mold over it then cut the edges off…using tostones will stop the liquid from going all over the plate.   Plus they taste awesome.
2. Add the ropa vieja then lightly press the rice in.
3. Top with fresh cilantro
4. Take the avocado puree and spread on plate as shown
5. Pour in a little annatto oil and cilantro oil into avocado puree
6. Enjoy

Eric