17 Apr 2013

Colombian Beef Rib Soup by Michael R. Goss

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This hearty South America dish is normally served at big family gatherings where it’s cooked outdoors in a huge pot suspended over a wood fire. This recipe is for the “kitchen” based cook. This should be enough to feed four people.
1kg beef rib chopped into 4” pieces.
I large white onion
4 cloves of garlic
4 medium potatoes
1 cube Ricostilla (or beef stock)
½ large cassava
4 carrots
handful of peas
handful green beans
1 large vine tomato
2 spring Onions
handful of fresh parsley
Rinse the meat, dry and fry in olive oil on a medium heat. Finely chop the onion and garlic, or if you are a lazy git like me, zap it in a food processor. Keep stirring the meat so that it browns evenly; about half-way through cooking, add the garlic and onions and continue to stir until they soften and the meat is browned all over.

At this stage you can optionally add a half glass of red wine and allow to reduce. Next, transfer all the contents to a pressure cooker add water and crumble in the cube of Ricostilla with a little pepper and salt. Stir again and cook for 25-30 minutes. The cubes are available at Latino supermarkets around Elephant & Castle. However, you can also use your own stock, although, sometimes the juices created by using a pressure cooker are flavoursome enough by themselves.

Then let off the excess steam, open and transfer, with all the liquid, to a deep saucepan. Add carrot batons, cubed potato and cassava and continue to boil for 15 minutes, then add peas and green beans, a little salt and pepper and cook for a further 10 minutes until the potato and cassava are soft.

Lastly, finely chop the vine tomato, spring onion and parsley and add to mix. Cook for a further 5 minutes. Ladle into wide deep bowls, garnish with roughly torn parsley and serve.

Normally this dish is served with a “plato seco” or dry plate. This consists of boiled rice, fried plantain, avocado, salad, and Arepa (corn bread). It’s just as delicious served with crusty French bread.

Last time I had this dish at a big family event in Cali we picked the dessert from the mango tree overhanging the dining tables where we were eating. Peeled and sliced within 5 minutes, you couldn’t get fresher than that.

After dinner they chose to play the old pastime of “get the gringo drunk” on Aguardiente, a lethal spirit made from sugar cane and flavoured with anise. After several rounds, they were falling off their chairs and waiting and watching, and not understanding why I was not falling off mine. I was still lucid and knocking them back. By the end of the evening most of them could barely walk; they never tried that one again. They didn’t bank on the Irish blood.

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