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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Sunday Night Open Thread: Ropa Vieja For Tortilla Bowls

Sunday Night Open Thread: Ropa Vieja For Tortilla Bowls

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I haven’t been in the mood to cook much this summer…but occasionally something is pretty enough to post…


I love ropa vieja salad bowls. I made two big batches the past few weeks in the Multi-Pot electric pressure cooker. The second batch, pictured above, I forgot the onions. Not sure how I did that! I thought about putting grilled onions in after the fact, but that would have meant more cooking. I always omit the olives, no mistake there.

For whatever reason, and you can probably deduce from my minimal posting the last few months, but I’m really off cooking. The best I do each week is either grill up a bunch of things one night or make large batches of something in the multi-pot and serve it over rice or lettuce for the next few days. It’s not necessarily pretty, but gets us through the week, along with the fresh veggies that are abundant. We are just about out of corn-on-the-cob season, and I’m sad.

Meanwhile, I’m so not in the cooking mood, that is a store-bought tortilla bowl. Which I never do, it’s so easy to make your own.

Ropa Vieja

  • 1 tbs olive oil
  • 3 lbs chuck roast, round roast or flank steak
  • 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
  • 2 large tomatoes, chopped or pureed (1 can crushed tomatoes substitute)
  • 1/4 cup green olives (oh, so very optional)
  • 1 small onion, thinly sliced
  • 2 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 1 tsp crushed oregano (or 1 tbsp fresh leaves)
  • 1 tsp salt (more if desired)
  • 1/2 tsp ground black pepper (more if desired)
  • cilantro for garnish

In the pressure cooker, heat oil and brown meat on all sides. Add remaining ingredients (except cilantro…and in my case, olives). Check your electric cooker guide, I cooked mine on the meat setting for 1-1/2 hours. I let it depressurize and then shredded the beef with a fork.

You can also use the slow-cooker method and slow cook for 8-10 hours.

Serve with tortillas, over rice or on a salad. Garnish with fresh cilantro.

=======================

How are you spending your holiday? I will have to work some, but will definitely get out with the dogs for a nice long hike.

Open thread

Reader Interactions

54Comments

  2. 2.

    Gin & Tonic

    Made a quick salad with diced tomatoes and cukes from the garden along with some quinoa, and grilled a large bluefish filet. I know it’s not everyone’s favorite, but I really like bluefish.

  4. 4.

    Miss Bianca

    Heading to a friend’s house for Labor Day BBQ, and I need to make a side dish – quick, anyone, any suggestions?

  7. 7.

    NotMax

    but I’m really off cooking

    So much for that (HFG).

    :)

    So old can remember looking forward to regular weekly foodie comment threads.

    @Miss Bianca
    ”
    Depends entirely on what you have handy. Got ‘shrooms?

  9. 9.

    WaterGirl

    @Miss Bianca: You could make “Steve’s Salad”. It’s a lovely summer dish.

    Cut up some combination of the veggies below, leaving out anything you’re not crazy about. Add your favorite italian salad dressing. Mix well and refrigerate. It’s really refreshing on a hot summer day.

    Steve’s Salad
    green pepper
    red pepper
    celery
    carrots
    tomatoes
    green olives
    black olives
    green onion
    onion
    pepperoncini

  11. 11.

    dmsilev

    Mentioned a few threads ago that I’m drooling over a new pizza cookbook I got yesterday. First recipe to try (probably next weekend) is a pizza version of the classic pasta cacio e pepe. Where the pasta cooks the sauce using pasta water as a base, for the pizza the idea is to put some crushed ice on top of the dough and bake that to get the finished dough plus the starchy water, and then finish with cheese and pepper.

    Will report back next week on how it turned out.

  14. 14.

    Betty Cracker

    Ropa vieja is a big thing in Tampa, but I’ve never heard of it being eaten on anything but yellow rice. You’d probably get tarred and feathered in Ybor City if you asked for it in a tortilla bowl, but I bet it’s tasty that way! I’ve got a recipe for it that involves skirt steak, a crap-load of adobo, Worcestershire sauce, a six-pack of beer, etc. I’ll post it sometime.

  18. 18.

    Raven

    @WaterGirl: Oil and no. She’s been having problems keeping food down and I’m thinking it’s a Flabby esophagus.

    “This information is how I make decisions regarding my patients with Lar Par. I do not dispute anyone’s personal experience with the use of various medications. But I take the prophylactic treatment of esophageal reflux/regurgitation very seriously, during the surgical/anesthetic timeframe and long term. This complication is THE thing we must fight against very specifically. I believe all patients diagnosed with/suspected of having Lar Par (surgically treated or not) should be on “promotility” medications lifelong, to prevent aspiration pneumonia and make them more comfortable without heartburn.”

  21. 21.

    pamelabrown53

    @Miss Bianca: #4.

    How about an easy fresh fruit salsa. Just get some berries, your choice, peel and dice a couple of apples and kiwis, add 1 T. brown sugar, 2 T. white sugar and 3 T. fruit preserves. Serve with cinnamon sugar tortilla chips (easy to make) or a bag of cinnamon sugar pita chips (even easier)! Trader Joe’s are tasty.

  23. 23.

    Keith P.

    I made a sour cherry pie this afternoon (I was binge watching Twin Peaks). I used frozen cherries instead of canned and put yogurt into the crust, topping it with caramel sugar. I’d never had sour cherry pie before, but it was spectacular. And I don’t even like pies, but I inhaled the thing.

  31. 31.

    MomSense

    @Raven:

    I’m glad you’re here. I saw a video of a dog being fed standing up in a sort of wooden box like contraption called a bailey’s chair. I was thinking that contraption might help lil bit to keep swallow better and keep her food down.

  32. 32.

    Raven

    @WaterGirl: I’m working on it with our vet and through the Lar Par message board. I was planning on making a Bailey Chair for her but when I hold her up on my lap she hacks like mad. It won’t make much sense to try to feed he sitting up if she’s going to choke.

  33. 33.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Miss Bianca: Garlicky lemon (or lime potatoes
    2 pounds red potatoes
    2 limes
    8 to 12 cloves garlic minced
    Oregano 1 tsp

    Juice the limes, add the minced garlic, kosher salt to taste, add water to make half cup liquid, add 1/4 cup olive oli. Mix well
    Cut the potatoes into wedges
    Spray or oll a cookie sheet
    Toss the potatoes in the liquid made above
    Roast in an oven at 425 for 40 to 45 min.
    Turn the potatoes at around 20 minute mark.

  35. 35.

    Yarrow

    @Raven: I’ve mentioned doggie acupuncture a few times. It worked for arthritis for one friend’s dog and pain during cancer treatment for another. Might be worth a try so long as the vet says it wont’ hurt her.

  38. 38.

    WaterGirl

    @Raven: I snorted with laughter when I clicked on the page for the Bailey chairs.

    But Lil Bit hacking and choking when held up sounds like she is not a good candidate for the chair. But if it works for some dogs, I say more power to them, who cares if it looks silly.

    You’re creative, and it’s not possible to love a dog more than you love Lil Bit, so if there’s a solution, I’m confident that you will come up with it.

  40. 40.

    zhena gogolia

    @Raven:

    Will she stand with her front paws on a little stool while you feed her, so her head is up? I’ve seen that done.

  41. 41.

    zhena gogolia

    @Raven:

    The people who did it made little meatballs and fed them to the dog one by one, holding them up so he had to raise his head to get them.

  43. 43.

    TaMara (HFG)

    @Raven: I second any type of alternative treatments if it seems conventional treatments aren’t working – acupuncture worked great for one of my dogs with a chronic condition. I’ve had good luck with herbs – put together by a licensed vet. And Reiki worked on my cat with pancreatitis.

  44. 44.

    MomSense

    @TaMara (HFG):

    I’m not a mayo person but I found a great potato vegetable salad years ago in The Yachting Cookbook (one of my faves) and it’s very nice for a cookout because it doesn’t spoil.

    1lb small red potatoes
    1/2 lb carrots peeled and cut diagonally in 2 inch lengths
    1/2 lb green beans
    1/2 cup dry white wine
    3 tablespoons finely chopped onion
    1/2 cup olive oil
    2 or 3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
    Salt and pepper
    2 6 1/2 ounce jars marinated artichoke hearts drained
    1/2 cup oil cured olives (optional)
    Chopped fresh parsley and/or basil

    Steam potatoes carrots and beans separately until tender and stir in a large bowl with the wine. Then add the onions, oil and vinegar, and salt and pepper. Turn the vegetables in the marinade as they cool. Add the artichoke hearts, olives, and herbs. Toss the salad gently and serve.

  46. 46.

    J R in WV

    @NotMax:

    Have looked up Hasselback potatoes — your link is messed up, takes one to this very thread, where the link to Hasselback potatoes is, well borked, still. But having looked them up, wow, tasty looking, will try them out sometime soon.

    I have a good friend who has had some odd health issues, his acupuncturist is an actual MD who also does acupuncture. He swears by it for his tendonitis and arthritis. I just take the painkillers as prescribed… well actually much less than prescribed, mostly just at bedtime or when I have to work hard physically.

    Have a cousin who does Reiki for horses out west… she’s sweet but a bit of a loon, but love helps everything and she’s full of that for horses.

  48. 48.

    Jay

    Jay salad,

    – assorted weeds from the garden, ( or baby spinach)
    – 1/2 cup of toasted and salted sunflower seeds, ( or pistacho’s)
    – crumbled goat chevre
    – diced red pepper,
    – diced ripe mango
    – raspberry or blackberry vinagrette dressing, lightly drizzled

  50. 50.

    Jeffro

    Looks like I am cooking up some burgers and dogs for my in-laws tomorrow…glad they are coming over, they need to get out more!

    I whipped up some mustard-dill-viniagrette potato salad tonight and that is chilling for tomorrow. Everything else = store-bought (macaroni salad, frozen waffle fries, etc)

  51. 51.

    Aleta

    I bought some crab and 2 red peppers for dinner but then didn’t have time to mix up anything or eat. Reading this thread is a little much but fun overall. Very hungry now though.

  52. 52.

    Jack the Cold Warrior

    Uh, is that orange plate the wounderful taco salad sitting on Fiestaware? If it’s from the 50’s, 60’s, the glaze contains uranium. A Geiger counter of health physics quality would confirm it’s presence. It’s not dangerous as long as the plate is intact, although I don’t recommend drinking lemonade or orange juice from a Fiestaware pitcher.

  53. 53.

    Aardvark Cheeselog

    I recently got an Instant Pot: last night I finally cooked with it, and made in 2 hours something that would otherwise have taken 6 or 8: Gulasch.

  54. 54.

    Miss Bianca

    Totally dead thread, but just for the record: I am making a variation on TaMara’s potato salad for the BBQ – using kraut/dill mustard, olive oil, and a little vinegar for the dressing, rather than mayo, mustard and pickle juice, and adding peas (but not raisins!) because I like peas.

    I am bookmarking this page to try all the other wonderful recipes people suggested.

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