Slow Cooker Ropa Vieja
I found this on Cooks Country’s site. We love Ropa Vieja and thought it might be fun to do it this way too. It started out ok but I thought it needed a few more things to get it closer to an authentic Cuban dish. I added some spices, flavorful veggies and swapped out their “whites” (vinegar, wine) with some reds.
Ingredients:
3 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 onions, halved and sliced thin
2 red bell peppers, stemmed, seeded, and sliced into 1/2-inch-wide strips
¼ cup tomato paste
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp ground cumin
1 ½ tsp dried oregano
Salt and pepper
½ cup red wine
2 Tbsp soy sauce
2 oz capers
2 bay leaves
1 (2-pound) chuck steak or flank steak
¾ cup pitted green olives, sliced
1 cup frozen peas
1 Tbsp distilled red vinegar
Directions:
- Heat oil in 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add onions and bell peppers and cook, covered, until softened and spotty brown, 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Push vegetables to sides of skillet. Add tomato paste, garlic, cumin, oregano, and 1/2 teaspoon salt to center and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Stir vegetables into tomato paste mixture. Add wine and cook until it is nearly evaporated, about 2 minutes. Transfer vegetable mixture and add soy sauce, capers and bay leaves to slow cooker. Season meat with salt and pepper and nestle into vegetable mixture. Cover and cook until meat is very tender, 6 to 7 hours on low or 5 to 6 hours on high.
- Transfer meat to cutting board. Strain the onion and pepper mix liquid into a bowl. Use a spoon to get the juices through. Discard bay leaves. Return vegetable mix to slow cooker. Pour strained juices into a separator. Pour sauce over vegetable mix, reserving and discarding any greasy stuff.
- Stir in frozen peas. Shred meat by using 2 forks, then return it to slow cooker.
- Stir in olives and vinegar. Season with salt and pepper to taste. When peas are heated through, serve with rice and black beans. Maduros too if you have them.