Some of my favorite dishes are stews made with
mirepoix and meat cooked until it gives up its gelatin. This is one I had never made before.
Cuban-Style
Ropa Vieja (Spanish style has chickpeas; Cuban style doesn't.)
The recipe is from
Saveur magazine, which has very fine recipes. Alterations mine.
6 oz. bacon (US "streaky bacon", our grocer has excellent pepper bacon)
3 lb. chuck roast (most any stewing meat will do)
Sea salt and fresh ground black pepper, to taste
1 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced
1 bell pepper, thinly sliced
Hot peppers, thinly sliced (I used 1 very big Ancho pepper)
6 oz. tomato paste (1 standard can)
1 tbsp. cumin
1 tbsp. thyme
1 tbsp. oregano
5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 bay leaf
½ cup dry white wine
2 cups water or beef stock
16 oz. diced or crushed tomatoes (1 small can)
4 tbsp. chopped, pitted green olives
2 tbsp sliced jarred pimiento peppers
(You can use pimiento-stuffed olives.)
2 tbsp. capers, rinsed and drained
Render the bacon, save the fat, chop the bacon and set aside. Salt and pepper the roast generously, and brown in the bacon fat. Set the roast aside.
Cook the onion, peppers, and garlic in the remaining fat, until tender; do not let the garlic brown. Add the cumin, oregano, and thyme; mix and continue to cook until fragrant. Add the tomato paste; mix and continue to cook until it just starts to caramelize. Add the wine, stock, tomatoes, and bay leaf; mix and continue to cook until well blended.
Add back the roast and bacon, cover and simmer for at least two hours, or as long as all day. The meat should be falling-apart tender. Remove the meat, and shred it. (Two forks, one in each hand, make a good shredder.) Return the shredded meat to the pot, add the olives, pimientos, and capers, and simmer until well blended and fragrant.
Serve with rice, black beans, and fried plantains.
