Carne louca

This is a very common recipe around here – carne louca, which means “crazy beef”.

It was easy to stumble upon these sandwiches in birthday parties. All the kids loved it – except for me. I already had problems with meat as a child. Never liked it. My mom had to sit by the table, her Havaianas in hand, staring at me, so I would eat my steak.

It was my first attempt at carne louca – and I must confess I only made it because João asked me to. I didn’t use a specific recipe, I made it the way I remembered it.

All I can say is that it smelled so great I had to taste it. And I did taste it. And then I had a big spoon of it, right before the 2 sandwiches I ate watching a soccer game on TV with João. :D

Carne louca

a 500g piece of eye of round
50g (2 tablespoons) butter
100ml white wine or beer
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 red bell pepper, finely chopped
10 green olives, pitted and chopped
2 ½ tablespoons parsley, finely chopped
juice of 1 lime
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
salt
freshly ground pepper

In a saucepan or kettle, set 1.5 liters water to boil.
In a pressure cooker* over high heat, melt the butter and add the piece of beef. Cook it, turning it around to get all the sides nicely browned. Add salt (just a little, since you’re going to season the beef in the end), wine/beer and the boiling water. Close the pressure cooker and when it starts whistling, turn down the heat and cook for 50 minutes.
Remove from heat and let it stand until all the pressure is released – be careful.

Place the beef on a cutting board and, using a knife and a fork, shred the entire piece. Put it in a large bowl (glass is better) and add the onion, bell pepper, olives, parsley and approx. 400ml of the broth left in the pressure cooker.
Season with salt and pepper to taste, add the lime juice and the olive oil and mix well. Cover and refrigerate for up to 2 days, bringing to room temperature before serving.

Make sandwiches using baguettes.
* If you’re using a regular pan, proceed the same way and cook the beef for longer – it has to be very tender otherwise it will be hard to be shredded.