Slow Cooker Cuban Steak Stew

Recipes for Ropa Vieja kept popping up in my cooking magazines and recipe emails, so I took it as a sign to make a batch.

This is Cuba's national dish and it comes with a story similar to stone soup (according to an article by Matthew Fairman in Cook's Country magazine).

A poor man trying to feed his family stirs old clothes ('rope vieja') into a pot of broth and says a prayer. A little while later he serves up a stew of beef and vegetables.

This meal is pretty easy to make. Roughly 20 minutes of prep will yield a very flavorful dinner after about 6 hours in the crock pot.

Most recipes recommend serving this stew over rice, but my boys requested mashed potatoes, so that's how we enjoyed it.

Mangia! Mangia!
Andrea

Slow Cooker Cuban Steak Stew
Inspired by these recipes 

3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 medium onions, peeled, halved and sliced thin
2 red bell peppers, stemmed and seeded and thinly sliced
1/4 cup tomato paste
4 garlic cloves minced
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 bay leaves
1 2-pound flank steak, cut across the grain into 4 pieces
3/4 cup pitted and sliced green olives (I used Castelvetrano)
1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar

Heat oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions and peppers and cover. Cook until softened and browned in spots, about 8 to 10 minutes. Stir a few times.

Push vegetables to the side of pan and add tomato paste, garlic, cumin, oregano and 1/2 teaspoon salt and cook until fragrant -- about 1 minute.

Stir vegetables into tomato paste mixture. Add wine and cook for 2 minutes or until wine evaporates.

Transfer vegetable mixture to slow cooker. Add soy sauce and bay leaves.

Season steak with salt and pepper, then place into slow cooker and cover.

Cook for 6 to 7 hours on low.

When steak breaks apart easily, remove meat to a separate plate and shred with two forks into bite-sized pieces.

Add steak back to slow cooker. Add olives and vinegar.

Stir to combine. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve over rice or mashed potatoes. Egg noodles would be nice, too.