I've been wanting to try out this recipe for ropa vieja since this issue of Cook's Country first came out back in 2017. My original plans to make it ended up falling through and it just never quite made it back to the top of the stack again after that.

Well, I am pleased to report that I finally made it and it is delicious!

The original recipe is written for the slow cooker with an initial sauté of the veggies on the stovetop. Given that format, I was able to do the whole thing in the InstantPot. It worked quite well. Although I did have to bump the temperature up partway through cooking as the "medium" slow cook setting didn't appear to be getting the job done. Nudging it up to high for the last three hours seems to have work though, so I'd recommend just putting it on high from the get-go next time.

I served my ropa vieja over Congrí with some green beans on the side to make it a complete meal.

Ropa Vieja

Slightly adapted from Cook's Country June/July 2017

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp. oil
• 2-3 onions, halved and sliced
• 2 red bell peppers, sliced
• 1/4 c. tomato paste
• 4-5 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tsp. cumin seeds, ground
• 1/2 Tbsp. dried oregano
• 1 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, divided
• 1/2 c. dry white wine
• 2 Tbsp. light soy sauce¹
• 2 bay leaves
• 900g flank steak, cut against the grain into 4 pieces
• 1 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 3/4 c. sliced green olives
• 1 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar

Directions

1. Heat oil over medium-low heat. (Sauté low on InstantPot.)
2. Add onion and bell pepper and cook, covered, stirring occasionally, for ~8 minutes.
3. Move vegetables to sides of pot and add the tomato paste, garlic, cumin, oregano, and 1/4 tsp. of the salt to the cleared spot in the middle.
4. Cook for a minute or two, then stir the vegetables into the paste mixture.
5. Add the wine and cook until nearly evaporated (1-2 minutes).
6. Add the soy sauce and bay leaves.
7. Season steak with the pepper and the remaining 1 tsp. of salt and add it to the pot on top of the sauce.
8. Cover and slow cook on high for ~6 hours.
9. Once meat is tender, remove steak from pot and shred with two forks.
10. Return meat to sauce and stir in olives and vinegar.
11. Serve over plain rice, congri, or your starch of choice. (I've seen both potatoes and polenta suggested as alternatives to rice.

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¹ I'd be inclined to try a mix of light and dark soy next time. ^Back

Congrí (Cuban Black Beans and Rice)

I had initially intended to follow the Cook's Country recipe for black beans and rice. But their version was meant to be a quick method using canned black beans and I didn't have any of those on hand. I thought about trying to adapt it but, in the end, I decided that I'd rather just look up an entirely different recipe onilne.

I stuck pretty close to the recipe I selected. Although I did halve all the quantities. And then halved the oil again (just to try to trim a few calories). And I used brown rice instead of the parboiled called for because long-grain brown is our default rice. And, since I didn't have any chorizo (or bacon or salted pork belly or smoked ham hocks or any of the various other pork products called for), I chopped up half a block of smoked tofu and tossed that in instead. Definitely not as rich and meaty as the pork would've been but, if nothing else, it made for a convenient way to use up the tofu.

And, of course, as is almost traditional for me at this point, I forgot to add the cilantro at the end. Oh well... it'll be good on the leftovers.

Congrí

Slightly adapted from Food52

Ingredients

• 225g dried black beans
• 6 c. water
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 bell pepper, chopped
• 1 onion¹, chopped
• 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 dry Spanish chorizo sausage², chopped
• 2 c. long-grain brown rice
• 1/2 Tbsp. cumin seeds, ground
• 1/2 Tbsp. garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp. dried oregano
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper, ground
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/16 tsp. ground turmeric
• chicken stock, as needed
• salt, to taste
• 1/2 c. chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

1. Combine beans, water, and bay leaf and bring to a boil.
2. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and cook for ~90 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, heat olive oil over medium heat.
4. Add bell pepper and onion and cook for 3-4 minutes.
5. Add garlic and cook for another minute.
6. Add chorizo and cook for 2-3 minutes.
7. Add rice and cook for another couple of minutes.
8. Add cumin, garlic powder, pepper, salt, oregano, and turmeric and cook for 30-60 seconds longer.
9. Remove from heat and set aside until beans are done. (It's okay if the beans are still a bit firm after the initial 90 minutes of cooking, they will get cooked more with the rice.)
10. Once the beans are cooked enough to eat, but still somewhat firm, remove from heat.
11. Pour off and measure the bean cooking water. If you're using homemade stock (or if you didn't need to add much stock to your bean water), then you may want to add a bit of extra salt to your liquid. I added ~1/2 tsp. to mine.
12. Add enough chicken stock to the water to bring the volume up to 4 c.
13. Add the beans and the bean liquid to the rice mixture.
14. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
15. Cover and reduce heat to low.
16. Cook, covered, for ~30 minutes.
17. Remove from heat and stir the rice.
18. Cover and let stand for 10 minutes.
19. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve!

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¹ I was fresh out of bell peppers, so I actually omitted both the bell pepper and the onion and put in 2 c. of frozen "spaghetti mix" instead. It's a combination of red and green bell pepper, onion, carrot, and celery. That gave me the pepper and onion that I needed and I figured that the addition of a bit of carrot and celery wouldn't hurt. ^Back
2 As noted above, I didn't have any pork products available, so I used smoked tofu instead. The Cook's Country recipe called for salted pork belly as the meaty component. And I saw others that called for bacon and one that incorporated smoked ham hocks. So... the takeaway seems to be use something meaty, salty, and preferably involving pork; smoke optional. ^Back