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Okay, I can’t help myself.  It was just an AMAZING game, with only 10 Ticos on the field, the last second Greek score to tie, the 30 minute overtime, then the fierce penalty kick off before Costa Rica secured the victory.  Just rush me to the cardiac clinic and be done with it. Instead, I celebrated with the undisputed national soup of Costa Rica:  Olla de Carne, from Guanacasta in the northwest, heartland of comida criolla.  Sandy, whose cookbook you see pictured, calls it “the feast dish for the Tico yokels.”  What better way to celebrate this unexpected advancement in World Cup 2014?  Every Costa Rican family has its own special recipe, often passed down from generation to generation–since I don’t have that luck, I have adapted Sandy’s recipe.  You can see the corn in it–which was introduced to Costa Rica in pre-Columbian times.  And note that it is often served with native beans and rice, the latter (along with the beef) brought to Costa Rica by the Spanish.

And speaking of the Spanish, it’s said this dish can be traced back to Cervantes’ mention of olla p0drida in Don Quixote back in 1615:  poor Sancho Panza is so upset when, in Part 2, chapter 47, he is successively denied a parade of hearty, lip-smacking dishes by a health-nut doctor, that he finally exclaims, “That big dish that is smoking farther off,” said Sancho, “seems to me to be an olla podrida, and out of the diversity of things in such ollas, I can’t fail to light upon something tasty and good for me.”  To which the good doctor replies, “Absit…far from us be any such base thought! There is nothing in the world less nourishing than an olla podrida; to canons, or rectors of colleges, or peasants’ weddings with your ollas podridas, but let us have none of them on the tables of governors, where everything that is present should be delicate and refined; and the reason is, that always, everywhere and by everybody, simple medicines are more esteemed than compound ones, for we cannot go wrong in those that are simple, while in the compound we may, by merely altering the quantity of the things composing them. But what I am of opinion the governor should cat now in order to preserve and fortify his health is a hundred or so of wafer cakes and a few thin slices of conserve of quinces, which will settle his stomach and help his digestion.”

OLLA DE CARNE (for 8)

• 2 pounds beef short ribs (or other combination of beef and bones), with fat removed
• 8 cups water
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
• 1 sweet red pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1 bunch cilantro (or cilantro)
• 1/4 cup celery leaves, chopped
• 1 branch thyme (or 1/2 tsp dried, rubbed between your palms)
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 large tomato, seeded and chopped
• 2 green plaintains, cut into big pieces
• 2 ears of corn, cut into big pieces
• 2 unripe chayotes, peeled, seeded, and cut into big pieces
• 1 big carrot, peeled and cut into big pieces
• 1 pound of white potatoes, peeled and cut into big pieces
• 1 pound calabeza or other winter squash, peeled and cut into big pieces
• 1/2 pound malanga (or tisique), peeled and cut into big pieces
• 1/2 pound brown taro (or nampi), peeled and cut into big pieces
• 1 medium sweet potato, peeled and cut into big pieces
• 1 pinch ground achiote
• salt to taste

Bring the meat, garlic, cilantro, celery leaves, pepper, onion, thyme, and tomato to a boil in the 8 cups of water in a big pot.  Reduce heat to medium low, cover, and boil for an hour.  Check to see that the meat is becoming tender, then add the following pieces of prepared vegetables:  plaintains, chayotes, corn and malanga.  Return to a boil, reduce heat to medium low, cover, and boil for 20-30 more minutes.  Finally, add the remaining prepared ingredients: carrots, potatoes, squash, malanga, taro, sweet potato, achiote, and salt.  Return to a boil, reduce heat again, cover and boil for 20 more minutes.  Check to see that the vegetables are tender and taste for seasoning, then turn off the heat until ready to serve to a hungry and joyous crowd.