Ropa Veija
Ropa Veija is a classic Cuban dish of shredded beef made out of either flank steak or skirt steak. If skirt and flank are out of your price range due to the popularity they have grown over the years, you can you chuck. This recipe is pretty straight forward. Season the meat. Sear the meat. Set aside. Sautee the vegetables. Add the sauce, spices, an meat. Slow cook in the oven. This works really well in a crock pot as well. I was originally going to cook it this way; but decided "Hell. I'm gonna save me some dishes and do it all in one pot." I literally said that out loud to myself. If you are going to do it in a slow cooker, cook on high for 4-6 hours. Ropa Veija goes great with rice, beans, and plantains. This meat is also great in tacos and burritos.
Servings: 4
Ingredients
The Meat
- 1/4 cup canola or vegetable oil
- 2 lbs skirt steak, flank steak, or chuck
- salt, pepper, cumin to taste
Ropa Veija
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 medium onion sliced
- 1 head of garlic cloves minced
- 2 bell peppers, 1 red, 1 green sliced into strips
- 2 roma tomatoes sliced into strips
- 8 oz tomato sauce
- 1 tsp thyme
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 cup beef stock
- 2 tbsp parsley chopped
- 2 tbsp cilantro chopped
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
The Meat
- In a large sautée pan or dutch oven, heat up 2 tbsp of cooking oil on medium high heat. Season the skirt/flank/chuck with salt, pepper, and cumin. Cut into 4" chunks. Sear in the pan for 3-4 minutes on each side.
- Once seared, remove the meat from the pan and set aside.
Ropa Veija
- Prep your ingredients.
- Add the rest of the cooking oil to the same pan the meat was seared in. Sautee the bell peppers, onion, garlic, tomatoes for 4-5 minutes.
- Add the tomato sauce, bay leaf, thyme, smoked paprika, cumin beef stock parsley, and cilantro. Simmer for 5 minutes.
- Add the meat.
- Preheat your oven to 250 degrees. Place the pan or dutch oven into the oven covered and cook for 4 hours. Bring back out on the stove to. Cook on high for 20 more minute until the sauce thickens. Shred the meat apart with 2 forks.
- Serve the ropa veija with rice and tostones.
