Steak & Potatoes Peruvian Style

I haven't been to Peru (yet) but I'm sure we'd get along fine.

I've had this dish at a Peruvian restaurant, and of course enjoyed it, so when the recipe showed up in Food & Wine I figured I should try it. I omitted a few things since I didn't feel like going to the store, and substituted other things for the same reason. It was still edible.


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Ropa Vieja - Cuban Beef Stew

I got the original recipe from Epicurious but I altered some of the cooking times based on another recipe. I liked the idea of simmering things longer to get more flavor.



You'll start with braising the beef, which you can do the day before you plan to eat it all.

For braising beef:
3 pounds skirt or flank steak, trimmed
2 quarts water
2 carrots, chopped coarse
1 large onion, chopped coarse
2 celery ribs, chopped coarse
1 bay leaf (I just have dried pieces in a jar)
3 garlic cloves, crushed lightly (okay I used 6)
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon whole black peppercorns (I just used my pepper grinder)

I couldn't find skirt or flank steak at the store, so I settled on some other thinly cut steak.


You can cut everything up coarsely, it's going to get discarded later.


Seasonings!


In a 5-quart kettle combine all braising ingredients and simmer, uncovered, 1 1/2 - 2 hours, or until beef is tender.


Remove kettle from heat and cool meat in liquid 30 minutes.


Transfer meat to a platter. Strain braising liquid through a colander, into a bowl. Discard the solids. Return braising liquid to kettle and boil until reduced to 3 cups, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, using two forks, pull apart your meat into little pieces. All of this can be done a day ahead (which is what I did). Cool braising liquid completely and chill it and the beef separately, covered.

Now for the rest of the stew ingredients...

*2 green bell peppers, cut into 1/4-inch strips
*1 red onion, cut into 1/4-inch strips
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups braising liquid plus additional if desired
a 14- to 16-ounce can of whole tomatoes with juice, chopped
3 tablespoons tomato paste
3 garlic cloves, minced (okay, probably 6 again)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
*2 red bell peppers, cut into 1/4 inch strips
*2 yellow bell peppers, cut into 1/4 inch strips

*I am not a fan of eating bell peppers or onions, but I do understand their necessity as ingredients in preparing food. I used only 1 (instead of 2) of the green, red, and yellow bellpeppers. And in all cases of "cut into 1/4-inch strips" I actually ran them through my mini food chopper until they were super tiny, so I could avoid ever having to bite into a chunk. You obviously may chop the pieces as big or as small as you please.

SUPER TINY "MARY APPROVED" PIECES


Day 2:
Heat a pot with the oil, and add your green bell peppers, garlic, and onion and saute until softened (about 5 minutes or so).


Add the tomatoes and tomato paste, and simmer for about 8 - 10 minutes. (again, I ran my tomatoes through my mini-chopper).


Now add your meat, 2 cups braising liquid, cumin, oregano, and salt and pepper to taste and simmer, covered, for about an hour.


Add the red and yellow bell peppers, and simmer another 30 minutes. (If you want your stew to be soupier, you can add more braising liquid).

Serve over yellow saffron rice.


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Wine Steak

An excellent dinner to be having is wine steak and roasted potatoes.

Start with 2 ½ lbs round steak/top round/London broil, sprinkle all surfaces evenly with meat tenderizer, and pierce deeply and generously with a fork. Let it stand at room temperature for about an hour.

Your meat does not have to look like America minus Florda.


While the meat is sitting, combine all of this in a small pot:
1 cup red wine
1 garlic clove, minced (although I used about 5)
1 Tbsp worcestershire sauce
1 small onion, minced (I've used dried minced onion before as well)
1 tsp salt
1/3 tsp pepper
2 Tbsp prepared horseradish
2 Tbsp minced parsley
2 Tbsp prepared mustard
1 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp butter or margarine



Heat it until the butter melts, then let it cool to room temperature (til about when the meat has finished sitting for an hour).

Pour sauce over meat (I usually marinate mine in a gallon ziploc because it's easier to deal with). Chill several hours, turning steak several times. (It can also be frozen in the sauce to cook later).


Remove meat from sauce and strain the sauce, keeping the solids and the liquids separate.

Broil the steak on one side, basting occasionally with liquid.


Turn over and spread the top surface with the solids. Broil to desired degree of doneness.




Slice to serve. The remaining sauce can be brought to a boil and then served to go on top of the meat.

There's really no way you can mess up this flavor. The cooking time will vary depending on your method (grill or oven) and how "done" you want it. I did about 8 minutes each side for medium, perhaps medium rare in places.

As for the potatoes, mine are more like slices instead of chunks because I like them to end up a little crispy. I spray them first with some olive oil so it all "sticks" (it's also amazing if you toss it all in bacon grease). Then I go through the spice rack and add some different things...parsley, thyme, basil, rosemary, paprika, minced onion, pepper, garlic powder, salt, pepper...some combination of all that. Then it goes in the oven for about an hour.


Then enjoy. A lot.





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