I spend 20+ years in South Florida and love Cuban food, which is easy to find there and delicious. Since moving north, I’ve not found it in many places, and if I have, it just isn’t the same.

I was so excited when one of the avid contributors to my Food & Wine Chickie Facebook page, Cathy, shared her recipe for Ropa Vieja, one of my favorite Cuban dishes. The dish is named Ropa Vieja as it translates to “old clothes”, a reference to the beef’s shredded/tattered appearance.

While there are many regional variations of this dish, the basic concept of that of braised flank steak with vegetables that’s cooked until the meat’s VERY tender and can easily be shredded. Cathy’s recipe is cooked in the slow cooker, so set it and forget it. In her recipe, she uses green and red bell peppers, but I prefer all red so the below reflects that…and I added garlic, cause everything’s better with garlic. Many remove the carrots before serving, but I like the sweetness of cooked carrots, so they stay in for me.

I serve my Ropa Vieja with white rice and black beans with a nice squeeze of lime. The meat is also AMAZING in tacos and freezes very well for a few months.

Ingredients”

• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 2 – 3-pound flank steak
• 1 tsp. each salt and pepper
• 1 red bell pepper, sliced
• 1 small yellow onion, chopped
• 1 6-ounce can tomato paste
• 1 14-ounce can tomato sauce
• 1 cup of water
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 5 garlic cloves, whole
• 3 bay leaves
• ½ cup olives with pimiento and ¼ cup of the juice they come in
• 2 Tbsp. white vinegar

Directions:

1. Over medium-high heat, warm the olive oil in a skillet.
2. Season the steak with salt and pepper and add to the hot skillet. Brown the meat on both sides, about six minutes total.
3. Place the browned meat, then all the other ingredients, in the slow cooker. Cook on high for four hours (of 8 hours on low) or until meat is very tender and falling apart. 
4. With two forks shred apart the meat into stringy strands.
5. Serve over white rice.

Makes six servings.

Cheers,

Veronique