Ropa Vieja

I made this Cuban dish on Sunday, and my whole family enjoyed it. My mom had made this once before and found it very time consuming, so I made sure I had plenty of time to make it. The recipe was found in a cooking magazine.The recipe says to cook to beef for 1 1/2 hours but my beef was done in 1 hour.

Ingrediants

• 3 lbs flank steak, trimmed
• 8 cups beef broth
  
• 2 cups coarsely chopped carrots
• 1 bay leaf
• 6 garlic cloves, pressed or minched
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1/4 tsp whole black pepper corns
• 2 green bell peppers, cut into strips
• 2 red bell peppers, cut into strips
• 2 yellow bell peppers, cut into strips
• 2 large carrots, sliced
• 1 red onion, sliced
• 2 chillies, minced
• 4 tbsp olive oil, seperated
• 1 14 oz can diced tomatoes
• 3 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

Directions
1. Combine meat, broth, carrots, bay leaf, oregano, salt, pepper and half of the garlic in a large saucepan. Simmer, uncovered, for 1 1/2 hours or until beef is tender. Remove from heat and let cool for 30 minutes.
2. Remove meat from liquid and set aside. Strain solids from liquid and set aside. Return liquid to pot and simmer until reduced to 3 cups-about 30 minutes. Discard solids and chill liquid in refrigerator.
3. In a large saucepan heat 2 tbsp olive oil over moderate heat and cook green bell peppers, chillies and onion, stirring, until softened.
4. Meanwhile, pull the meat into shreds. Add the shredded meat to the onion mixture along with 2 cups of the simmered liquid, tomatoes with juice, tomato paste, cumin, parsley, salt, pepper and the rest of the garlic. Simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes.
5. While meat is simmering, in a skillet saute red and yellow bell peppers and carrots in 2 tbsp of olive oil over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until softened. Stir peppers into stew with enough additional liquid to thin to desired consistency, and simmer for 5 minutes. Serve over rice.