EL PABELLON CRIOLLO
Source of Recipe
"The South American Table: The Flavor and Soul of Authentic Home Cooking from Patagonia to Rio de Janeiro
Recipe Introduction
Pabellon means "flag," and pabellon criollo is a creole dish in which shredded beef, rice and black beans are arranged in a way to resemble the tricolor flag of Venezuela.
List of Ingredients
1 1/2 pounds flank steak, trimmed of fat and cut into 4 pieces
1 medium onion, halved and sliced into half-moons
Beef broth as needed
6 tablespoons canola oil, divided
1 teaspoon ground annatto or sweet paprika
2 medium onions, peeled, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, peeled, minced
1 small red bell pepper, washed, seeded and chopped
2 large ripe but firm tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 ripe (yellow) plantain
Prepared white rice
Prepared black beans Recipe
Place the meat and sliced onion in a 4-quart saucepan and add beef broth to cover. Bring to a boil over medium heat, reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer until the meat is tender enough to pull apart with a fork, about 1 1/2 hours.
Let it cool in the stock. Remove the meat from the stock and shred it ( 1/4 inch thick). Strain the stock and set it aside.
In a large skillet, heat 4 tablespoons of the oil over medium-high heat, add the shredded meat and brown, stirring occasionally. Reduce the heat to medium and stir in the annatto or paprika, chopped onions, garlic, bell pepper, tomatoes, salt and black pepper. Cook, uncovered and stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes have formed a sauce, about 20 minutes. If the mixture gets too dry, add some of the reserved stock a little at a time; the meat should be juicy.
Taste for salt and black pepper; adjust if needed.
Just before serving, peel the plantain, cut it into 3 chunks and halve each chunk lengthwise.
Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil in a medium skillet over low heat. Add the plantain and cook it on both sides until it's golden, about 3 minutes per side.
To assemble the pabellon, arrange the beef in the center of a heated platter and place a mound of rice on one side and a mound of beans on the other side. Arrange the plantain slices all around. Serve immediately.
Serves 6.
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