Ropa Vieja

This was the main dish that Trisha Freel brought on Sunday. It was so good that I had to share it. This can go by two things - little ropes or little rags. It is basically shredded beef and boy is it tasty. This version is not overly spicy for those in my family that cannot handle 'hot' foods. I loved it and wanted to save some for Clyde but by the time he finished up his meetings there was none left. This feeds a lot of people, so plan on leftovers. Trish said it freezes well and she actually puts some up so that she has leftovers at a future date. This would make great filling for Tamales!

Ropa Vieja
1 large boneless chuck roast
2 can condensed beef consomme
2 cans beef broth
1 onion, quartered
1 teaspoon oregano (Mexican if you can find it)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
Place meat in a slow cooker with liquid and onion. Sprinkle spices on top of meat. Cover and cook on low for a minimum of 8-10 hours - until meat is tender and will shred easily.

Remove from the cooker and shred the meat with forks. Reserve the cooking juices and mash the onion.

Sauce: {Begin about 1/2 hour before the meat will be done}
1 large onion, sliced thinly
1 large pepper, sliced thinly (use a bell pepper or an Italian cooking pepper}
Olive oil
Minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon oregano (Mexican if you can find it)
1/2 Adobo seasoning
Salt to taste
1-2 packets Badia Sazon Tropical (found in the Spanish aisle of your super market. Adds flavor and color to the dish)
1-2 can diced tomatoes
1-2 can tomato sauce
Saute onion in olive oil in a large dutch oven. When onions become tender, add green pepper and minced garlic. When garlic is fragrant at the spices. When you can smell the spices (1-2 minutes, add the tomatoes. When the meat is shredded, add it to the sauce and let it simmer.

Add one can of tomato sauce and 1-1 1/2 cups of the leftover juices from the meat. Stir together. Depending on how juicy you like the sauce, just keep adding tomato sauce and cooking juice until you get the desired texture you want for dish. This is great served over rice or on a bun so keep that in mind. Over rice it can be more like gravy, on a bun, you might want it a little thicker. I kept it warm in the slow cooker.

Note: For Clyde and me, we will not be adding the second onion (the one in the sauce). The first onion basically disintegrated so it wasn't even noticed in the sauce. However if you minced the onion so that there were not big chunks, no one would see the onion but the flavor would be there. Enjoy!