morsels45

morsels45 said

Ropa vieja

Old clothes: beef shredded into rags in a pepper and tomato sauce.

Ropa vieja
Photo: TGrey89, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons. A photo of the dish, not of these exact recipes.

That was somebody else’s answer. Yours takes about twenty seconds: a handful of either-ors, then one dish.

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How to make ropa vieja

2 genuinely different takes — a classic, and a faster or lighter route. The same ones the app hands you once you have decided.

Shredded into rags

180 minutes · serves 6 · Easy

What you need

  • 1kg beef flank or skirt
  • 2 onions, sliced
  • 2 peppers, sliced
  • 6 garlic cloves
  • 1 tin chopped tomatoes
  • 2 tbsp tomato purée
  • 2 tsp cumin
  • 1 tsp oregano
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 tbsp capers
  • 100g green olives

What you do

  1. 1Simmer the beef with one onion, the bay and water to cover for 90 minutes, until it shreds. Keep 400ml of the broth.
  2. 2Pull the meat apart along the grain with two forks. Long threads, not chunks.
  3. 3Soften the second onion, the peppers and garlic slowly — 15 minutes, not 5.
  4. 4Cumin, oregano, tomato purée, tinned tomatoes and the reserved broth. Simmer 20 minutes.
  5. 5Beef back in with the olives and capers. Another 25 minutes uncovered until it is thick and glossy.
  6. 6Rice, black beans and fried plantain.

Slow cooker

480 minutes · serves 6 · Very easy

What you need

  • Beef skirt
  • Onion
  • Peppers
  • Tinned tomatoes
  • Cumin
  • Olives

What you do

  1. 1Everything in raw, on low, 8 hours.
  2. 2Shred in the pot at the end and reduce on the hob for 15 minutes if it is loose.