I confess to a bit of an addiction to cooking magazines. They make for such a happy read. Who doesn’t like to think about food? And the pictures…well I could go on forever. I’ve narrowed my favorites down to just two and a half (isn’t Southern Living really about more than just food?), so I was initially kind of surprised when two food magazines arrived in the mailbox on the same day with pictures of tacos on the covers. Don’t those magazine people have spies? This wasn’t a bad thing- my family loves tacos, soft, crunchy however they come. My son reminded me that Cinco de Mayo is right around the corner and maybe that was the reason for the “dueling” magazine covers. Cinco de Mayo is also on Derby Day this year – Mint Julep Margaritas anyone?
This is all to say that the magazines inspired me to think about other Mexican dishes that we love and to make a favorite for dinner. It’s called Ropa Vieja and it’s basically a long cooking beef dish, rich with spices, vegetables, and a tasty sauce. It’s a very old Spanish recipe probably kind of like a Southern cook’s recipe for a chicken casserole, which can take on a lot of different ingredients depending on who’s in the kitchen. The name, Ropa Vieja, translates to mean “torn clothes” because the beef becomes so tender it almost falls apart. The recipe we like was given to me by a friend and over the years, it’s had a few ingredients added and subtracted to make it our own. Besides being a crowd pleaser another thing to love about this recipe is that once everything is in the pot you can walk away and know a delicious meal is only a couple of hours away.
The beef in this dish is relatively inexpensive flank steak. We serve it with soft flour tortillas, rice and black beans for a perfectly simple and wonderful dinner anytime of year. I hope you try this, and love it as much as we do!
Ropa Vieja
Ingredients
1 ½ to 2 lbs flank steak, cut in two pieces for browning
1 tsp each salt and pepper
1 Tbsp olive oil
3 bell peppers, any combination of colors, sliced into vertical strips
2 onions, sliced into vertical strips
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 Tbsp oregano
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp chopped rosemary
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (more if you like the heat)
2 ½ cups beef broth
2 Tbsp tomato paste
2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
3 Tbsp sherry
2 bay leaves
salt and pepper to taste (some broth is really salty so a taste is the best way to go)
Directions
In a large saucepan or a Dutch oven, heat olive oil over medium high heat. Salt and pepper both sides of the flank steak pieces and brown steak on each side in two batches. It takes about two and a half minutes per side. Remove steak to a platter. Add peppers, onions, and garlic to the same pan and sauté until soft, about ten minutes. Add spices, broth, tomato paste, vinegar, sherry and bay leaves. Lower heat to simmer (a very low boil), cover pan and let meat mixture cook for about two hours, stirring occasionally, until beef shreds easily with a fork. Serve with tortillas, sour cream, cheese, and any other condiment you enjoy – we love hot sauce!
*Note: original recipe contains about ¼ of a cup of chopped green olives added with the liquid ingredients. I love this- my family does not.
