Olla de carne

Ingredients

• Beef shank — bone-in1.2 kg
• Cassava500 g
• Squash400 g
• Corn — on the cob2
• Plantain — green2
• Potatoes400 g
• Carrots3
• Onion1
• Sweet pepper1
• Coriander40 g
• Rice — to serve400 g
• Lime2
• Salt and pepperto taste

Salt and spices grow more slowly than the rest: doubling a dish does not double the pepper.

Weight converts to ounces and volume to cups. Grams of flour are not turned into cups, because that depends on how tightly it is packed.

Method

1. 1

   Cover the shank with cold water, bring it to the boil and skim it thoroughly.

   20 min

2. 2

   Add the onion, pepper and salt and simmer two hours, until the meat is tender.

   125 min

3. 3

   Cut the cassava into large pieces, removing the woody core, and add it to the broth.

   15 min

4. 4

   Twenty minutes later add the corn on the cob and the carrots.

   22 min

5. 5

   Twenty minutes after that add the potatoes and squash in large pieces.

   22 min

6. 6

   The plantain goes in last and cooks ten minutes, no longer.

   12 min

7. 7

   Lift the solids out onto a platter, ladle the broth into cups and serve with rice, coriander and lime.

   12 min

About the dish

The vegetables go in in waves rather than all at once. Cassava and corn need an hour, squash twenty minutes, plantain ten, and in one pot together they would all cook to mush.

The meat is bone-in and full of gristle. That is what gives the broth the body the three hours are for.

It is served on two plates: the broth apart, the solids apart, with rice. That is part of the serving rather than a way of stretching a portion.

Worth knowing

• — Always cut out the cassava core. That fibrous rod never softens however long it cooks and lodges between the teeth.
• — Use green plantain. A ripe one cooks down to a sweet mush and sweetens the broth, which an olla should not be.
• — Cut the vegetables large. Small pieces collapse before the meat is tender and leave flakes in the broth.

Nutrition

Per serving at the base yield, calculated from the ingredients rather than measured in a lab.

Calories

620 kcal

Protein

42 g

Fat

20 g

Carbs

68 g

More from Costa Rica

• Gallo pinto — Yesterday's rice fried with black beans and Salsa Lizano. The Costa Rican breakfast, every day.
• Casado — A lunch plate of rice, beans, salad, plantain and meat, each in its own sector.
• Chorreadas — Pancakes of ground fresh corn, served with natilla soured cream.