Slow Cooker Ropa Vieja (Recipe 19 of 150)

Ropa Vieja is not a new recipe for me. I've made it a couple of times and then repeated one of the recipes a couple of times. You can find the other recipes here and here. By far my favorite is the one from Cook's Country. 

In case you haven't read my blog every day here's what I wrote about what Ropa Vieja is. 

The story behind Ropa Vieja goes something like this:
A man, too broke to afford meat for his family, stirred some old clothes (ropa vieja in Spanish) into a pot of broth. He then prayed over the pot and later, after some devine assistance, ladled out a rich stew of beef and vegetables.

This recipe is a solid, good recip. Easy for sure. Flavorful and filling. I, of course, don't put green peppers in my ropa vieja, but by all means, you should if you like them. Blech. 

I serve mine over rice, but you could easily just eat it plain or with a tortilla. Truly though, if you want to try Ropa Vieja, make the Cook's Country version linked here.

Slow Cooker Ropa Vieja

Recipe from Spicysouthernkitchen.com

Serves 6

• 3 T vegetable oil
• 2 medium onions, halved and thinly sliced
• 2 red bell peppers, sliced into 1/2-inch wide strips
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/3 c tomato paste
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• salt and pepper
• 2 T soy sauce
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 chicken bouillon cube, crumbled
• 1/2 c water
• 1 (2-pound) flank steak
• 1 T distilled white vinegar
• 3/4 c green olives with pimentos
• cilantro and rice for serving

Heat oil over medium-high heat in a large nonstick skillet. Add onion and peppers and cook for 7 to 8 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add garlic and cook one more minute.

Add tomato paste, cumin, oregano, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Stir the tomato paste into the onion and peppers and cook for 1 minute.

Transfer to a 6-quart slow cooker.

Add soy sauce, bay leaves, chicken bouillon, and water to the slow cooker.

Season the flank steak with salt and pepper and add it to the slow cooker. Spoon some of the tomato mixture on top of it.

Cover and cook on LOW for 6 to 7 hours or on HIGH for 5 to 6 hours.

Discard bay leaves. Shred meat with 2 forks. Stir in vinegar and olives. Check for seasoning and add more salt and pepper if desired.

Ropa Vieja

Meaty stew in any culture has to be good. Ropa Vieja is Cuban and one of my favorite Cuban dishes. In fact, it's their national dish, so I hear. I found this recipe in Cook's Country and decided for Mother's Day I'd give it a try.

The story behind Ropa Vieja goes something like this:
A man, too broke to afford meat for his family, stirred some old clothes (ropa vieja in Spanish) into a pot of broth. He then prayed over the pot and later, after some devine assistance, ladled out a rich stew of beef and vegetables.

Slow Cooker Ropa Vieja
Cook's Country June/July 2017

Photo from the Interwebs

Serves 4-6

3 T vegetable oil
2 onions, halved and sliced thin
2 red bell peppers, stemmed, seeded, and sliced (I didn't put these in because they're gross)
1/4 c tomato paste
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp cumin
1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
Salt and pepper
1/2 c dry white wine
2 T soy sauce
2 bay leaves
1 2 lb flank steak, tremmed (Flank steak wasn't on sale, but chuck roast was, so I used that)
3/4 c pitted green olives, sliced
1 T distilled white vinegar

Heat oil in skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions and bell peppers and cook, covered, until softened and spotty brown, 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Push vegetables aside and add tomato paste, garlic, cumin, oregano and salt and pepper. Cook until fragrant for about 1 minute.

Stir vegetables and tomato paste together. Add wine and cook until nearly evaporated, about 2 minutes. Transfer veggies mixture, soy sauce, and bay leaves into slow cooker. Season steak with salt and pepper and put in slow cooker. Cook 6-7 hours on low or 5-6 hours on high.

Transfer steak to cutting board and shred. Discard bay leaves. Return to the slow cooker and stir in olives and vinegar. Season as needed.

Serve over white rice.

Slow Cooker Ropa Vieja (Recipe 137 of 150)

Whoa. It's been over a month since I made a new recipe. I think that's the longest I've gone in several years without making something new. There are a lot of reasons and you can find out by hopping over to the other blog for more details. 

Ropa Vieja! It's a Cuban recipe and it's so delicious. I never order at a Cuban restaurant because they use bell peppers in it and, well, blech. I've made it a couple of times too. Here is the most recent this year. And then again in 2017. Then one other time in 2011. All of them are slightly different, but all of them are basically stewed meat. 

This one was good. Flank steak was WAY too expensive to use so I bought a tritip roast which was, surprisingly, about $10 less than the flank steak. I think you could use a chuck roast for this and get just as good results. You might want to cut it into chunks though to allow more flavor into the meat. I cut the tritip in half. 

I didn't buy capers for this either. Capers are expensive little buggers and for a tablespoon of them I just didn't think it was necessary. 

Slow Cooker Ropa Vieja
Recipe from Martha Stewart

Serves 6

• 1 1/2 pounds flank steak
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
• 2 T extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 medium onions, cut into thick slices
• 1 large red bell pepper, cut into thick slices
• 3 large cloves garlic, cut into thin slices
• 1 jalapeno (ribs and seeds removed for less heat, if desired), cut into thin slices
• 1 T whole cumin seeds
• 2 T tomato paste
• 1 can (28 ounces) diced tomatoes
• 1/2 c small Spanish olives
• 1 T capers, drained, plus 1 tablespoon brine
• Fresh cilantro leaves, for serving
• Cooked white rice and plantain chips, for serving

Preheat a 5-to-6-quart slow cooker. Season steak generously with salt and pepper. In a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil over high. Add steak and cook until browned on both sides, about 8 minutes. Transfer to slow cooker.

Add remaining 1 tablespoon oil to skillet. Add onions, bell pepper, garlic, jalapeno, and cumin seeds; season with salt and pepper and cook until vegetables are tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in tomato paste; cook 2 minutes more. Add tomatoes and bring to a boil. Pour mixture over steak in slow cooker; cover and cook on high until very tender, 5 hours (or on low 10 hours).

Transfer steak to a platter; cut in half crosswise. Using two forks, shred meat. Transfer sauce to skillet; cook over high heat until slightly thickened, about 10 minutes. Stir in shredded meat, olives, and capers with brine; cook just until heated through, 2 minutes more. Top with cilantro and serve, with rice and plantain chips.

Ropa Vieja - Cuban stewed meat

Wow. I'm a fan. This was such a good meal. So full of flavor and tender beef. Side of rice and tortillas finished the meal.  I love tearing a tortilla up in quarters, stuffing it with a yummy stewed meat and some rice.  Reminds me of my days in Mexico.

This meal was easy and tasty. It uses a lot of ingredients specifically from Goya - because, well, that's the place I got the recipe.  I followed this one completely, minus the bell pepper and sofrito (I couldn't find sofrito in my store and couldn't remember how to actually make a sofrito.)

Ropa Vieja is a main course of shredded and braised beef with plenty of healthy, tasty vegetables, like onions, peppers and olives. This recipe could feed a bunch of people and could be adjusted easily to feed a small army.


Ropa Vieja
Serves 6

• 2 T GOYA® Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 2 ½ lbs. flank steak, cut in 3”x 4”pieces
• GOYA Adobo with Pepper, to taste
• 2 large yellow onions, finely chopped (about 2½ cups)
• 1½ green bell peppers, finely chopped (about 1½ cups)
• 1 jar (6 oz.) GOYA Sofrito
• 3 tsp GOYA Minced Garlic or 6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 can (8 oz.) GOYA Tomato Sauce
• 1 packet Sazón GOYA with Coriander and Annatto
• 1 packet GOYA Powdered Beef Bouillon
• ¼ tsp GOYA Ground Black Pepper
• 1 c GOYA Spanish Olives Stuffed with Minced Pimientos, sliced
• 1 jar (2 oz.) GOYA Capers, drained
• 1 T finely chopped fresh cilantro
• 2 c cooked CANILLA Extra Long Grain Rice

Heat oil in large heavy-bottomed pot over medium-high heat. Season meat with adobo. Add steak to pot and cook in batches, flipping once, until well browned, about 10 minutes. Transfer meat to a plate. Lower heat to medium. Stir in onions and peppers. Cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are soft, about 10 minutes. Add Sofrito and garlic to pot; cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.

Stir in 3 of cups water, tomato sauce, Sazón, beef bouillon and pepper. Bring mixture to a boil. Return beef to pot. Lower heat to medium low and simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, about 45 minutes. Stir in olives and capers. Cover pot; simmer until meat shreds easily with fork, 1 – 1½ hours, adding more water in ¼ cup measurements, if pot becomes dry. [Jenn Notes: I probably used about another two cups of water. I had the heat on a little too high and it boiled down quickly. So watch your heat.]

Transfer meat to work surface; shred meat with two forks. Bring remaining sauce to a boil. Mix meat and cilantro into sauce. Serve with white rice.

Cuban Picadillo

I've had my fair share of picadillo in my time. And each time I think it's just ok. I'm not sure why I keep trying new recipes of it. 

This time I know EXACTLY why I tried it. Because I read "picadillo" and I thought Ropa Vieja. 

Cuban Picadillo is a classic comfort food and made of ground meat, and other flavorful things like olives, capers, and in some cases, raisins. 

Ropa Vieja (literally "old clothes) - is also a Cuban classic comfort food. It's usually shredded beef that is slowly cooked with onions, peppers, olives and tomato sauce. 

So you see, they're similar - it's an honest mistake. I prefer the shredded beef to the ground beef and I think that's why I'm always just ok with picadillo. 

Beside my weirdness, this is a good dish. Serve it over rice and its even better. 

Cuban Picadillo

Recipe from Skinny Taste

Serves 6

• 1/2 large chopped onion
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tomato, chopped
• 1/2 pepper, finely chopped
• 2 T cilantro
• 1-1/2 lb 93% lean ground beef
• 4 oz 1/2 can tomato sauce (I like Goya, check label for Keto)
• kosher salt
• fresh ground pepper
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1-2 bay leaf
• 2 T alcaparrado, capers or green olives would work too

Brown meat on high heat in large sauté pan and season with salt and pepper. Use a wooden spoon to break the meat up into small pieces. When meat is no longer pink, drain all juice from pan.

Meanwhile, while meat is cooking, chop onion, garlic, pepper, tomato and cilantro.

Add to the meat and continue cooking on a low flame. Add alcaparrado and about 2 tbsp of the brine (the juice from the olives, this adds great flavor) cumin, bay leaf, and more salt if needed. Add tomato sauce and 1/4 cup of water and mix well. Reduce heat and simmer covered about 20 minutes.

Crockpot Beef Stew (Recipe 140 of 150)

Just 10 more recipes to hit my goal. I'll be half way there by the end of this week! 

It's stew and soup season to me and that means I try to make a stew or a soup (or both) in a week. It is a leftover I'll eat for sure - at least once. 

I have made stew a thousand times over the years and I've never made it quite like this one. And truthfully, this one is going to be a favorite from now on. 

See, I like my stews to have a thick sauce and not a loose, thin sauce. This recipe guarantees a thick sauce. It was perfect. 

Now, I kinda didn't have all the ingredients. Well, one main ingredient...the can of crushed tomatoes. I used that can earlier when I made Ropa Vieja and didn't get to the store to get another can. But I have this "tomato bouillon" and I figured that would suffice for the tomato flavor and it did. You gotta be careful with bouillon though because it can get salty. So watch your seasoning and maybe season later in the cooking process. 

Crockpot Beef Stew

Recipe from Carlsbad Cravings

Serves 6

BEEF STEW

• 1 T Vegetable oil
• 2 pounds boneless beef chuck roast cut into bite size pieces
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 4-5 medium red potatoes, chopped (about 1 pound)
• 4 medium carrots, peeled and sliced
• 4 stalks celery, sliced thick (1/4”-1/2”)
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 4-6 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 bay leaf

BEEF GRAVY BROTH

• 1 14 oz. can crushed tomatoes
• 1 10.5 oz. can beef consommé **
• 1 15 oz. can low sodium beef broth
• 2 T low sodium soy sauce
• 1 T Dijon mustard
• 1/3 c all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp beef bouillon
• 1 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp EACH ground cumin, paprika, dried oregano, dried thyme

Chop meat into bite size pieces. While meat is still on the cutting board, toss it with 1 teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add half of the beef to the very hot skillet and let cook undisturbed for approximately 2 minutes, or until nicely seared on one side, then continue to cook while stirring until beef is browned all over but not cooked through. Remove beef to 6-quart (or larger) slow cooker. Repeat with remaining beef.

Add all of the vegetables and garlic to the slow cooker and toss with the beef.

Add all the the Beef Gravy Broth ingredients to the now empty skillet (wipe out excess grease but leave brown bits). The flour will be lumpy at first but will dissolve as you cook and continue to whisk. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer until thickened to the consistency of gravy. Add to slow cooker and toss to combine. Add bay leaf. The Gravy will be very thick but will thin to the perfect consistency as moisture is released from the vegetables as they cook.

Cook on HIGH for 4-6 hours or on LOW for 8-10 hours or until vegetables and beef are very tender. Discard bay leaf. Season with salt and pepper to taste.