Solving the “what’s for dinner” dilemma perplexes even the most accomplished cook. I look for dinner inspiration everywhere. A recent appetizer of shredded beef on crispy plantains at a buoyant pan-Latin restaurant in Chicago jogged my memory of the delicious shredded beef dishes I’ve had in Latin America.
Known by many names, such as carne deshebrada, barbacoa, and picadillo in Mexico and slow-cooked carne mechada in Chile, I seek out these richly flavored, stew-like, homey dishes. I first enjoyed Cuba’s ropa vieja (literally old clothes) in a small Manhattan eatery. Served with white rice and black beans, this dish is cool-weather comfort food at its best.
Award-winning cookbook author Maricel E. Presilla says that typically a flavorful but tough cut of beef, such as flank steak, is first simmered in water to make a broth for soup. Then, the softened meat that remains gets pulled into shreds, like an old garment, to braise in a savory sauce. She tells us in her classic volume, “Gran Cocina Latina” (W.W. Norton 2012), that in Cuba, ropa vieja is an everyday dish.
We agree. In the recipe that follows, loosely adapted from Presilla’s cookbook, I employ inexpensive beef chuck roast rather than pricey, super-lean flank steak. Simmering the meat in the braising sauce, rather than boiling it for broth, infuses the sauce with a deeper beef flavor. So does browning the meat first and scraping up all the goodness from the bottom of the pan into the sauce.
Caramelizing onions does wonders for any stewed dish. Here, sweet onion browns in the beef pan juices. Those onions get flavored with plenty of fresh garlic, cumin, oregano, and sweet paprika. I love to add just a touch of smoked paprika, too, untraditional, but the smoked paprika adds a complexity to the finished dish reminiscent of the hardwood fires under a kettle of stew in Latin America.
After the beef is fall-apart soft, use two forks to pull it into large shreds. You have serving options: Piled alongside traditional white rice, black beans, and golden fried plantains. The mixture tastes great tucked into warm tortillas. Top crispy fried plantains or corn tostadas with a spoonful of the meat mixture and sprinkle with crumbled fresh cheese for an inspired hand-held appetizer.
I also like to stir black beans into the meat mixture and serve it over cooked grains topped with a fried egg for a “bowl” dinner. Don’t hesitate to pile a few tablespoons of the meat mixture over a baked sweet potato for a heartwarming fall meal.
The beef mixture freezes well. With a quick thaw and reheat, dinner every day is solved.
Ropa Vieja With Caramelized Onions and Sweet Peppers
Makes 8 servings
- 1 beef chuck pot roast, about 3 pounds
- Salt, freshly ground black pepper
- 1 large or 2 medium-large (16 ounces total) sweet onion
- 1 large red bell pepper
- 1 large yellow or orange bell pepper
- 2 tablespoons expeller pressed canola oil, or safflower or sunflower oil
- 8 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1/2 cup dry red wine
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon each: sweet paprika, oregano
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 1/2 teaspoons sweet smoked paprika, optional
- 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
- 3 or 4 bay leaves
- 1 can (28 ounces) crushed tomatoes
- 1/2 cup beef broth or water
- Cooked white rice
- Warmed canned black beans
- Fried plantains, see recipe
Pat chuck roast dry and season generously on both sides with salt and pepper. Cut onion in half and cut each half into 1/4-inch wide wedges or slices. Core peppers. Cut each pepper into 1/3-inch wide strips.
Heat oven to 300 degrees F. Heat a large (5- to 7-quart) Dutch oven over medium heat until hot. Add oil, then add beef. Cover with a splatter guard and cook without turning until roast is nicely browned, 6 or 7 minutes. Carefully flip the roast and cook to brown the other side, about 5 minutes.
Remove browned meat to a plate. Add onions to pan. Cook, stirring occasionally, over medium heat until onions are soft and nicely browned, 10 to 15 minutes. Add garlic and cook 1 minute. Stir in wine and Worcestershire and scrape up all the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Cook until reduced by half, about 2 minutes. Stir in paprika, oregano, cumin, smoked paprika, allspice, and bay leaves until well mixed.
Stir in bell peppers, tomatoes, and broth. Heat to simmer over medium heat. Nestle browned beef into the pan, being sure to cover the meat with the sauce mixture. Cover the pan tightly and slide it into the oven. Bake, turning the meat over after 1 hour, until a fork inserted in the meat comes out easily, 2 1/2 to 3 hours total.
Let meat cool a few minutes. Use two forks to pull the beef into large shreds. Taste and adjust seasonings.
Serve meat with rice, black beans, and fried plantains.
Fried Plantains
Makes 8 servings
- 3 large black-ripe plantains
- 1/2 cup expeller pressed canola oil, safflower oil, or sunflower oil
- Coarse kosher salt
Heat oven to 200 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with paper towels. Use a sharp knife to score the plantain peel. Gently remove the peel. Slice the plantain at an angle into 1/4-inch thick slices.
Heat the oil in a large, deep skillet until an edge of the plantain slice bubbles furiously. Arrange a single, uncrowded layer of plantain slices in the hot oil. Cook, without turning, until bottom is golden brown, about 2 minutes. Gently turn slices over and cook to brown the other side, 2 to 3 minutes more. Remove as the slices brown to prepared baking sheet and set the baking sheet in the oven.
Repeat to cook all the slices. While hot, sprinkle with salt. Serve warm.
