Ropa Vieja

Well, there are no great pictures of this feast but it was tasty. I was more excited about the burnt carrot salad than the ropa vieja at the time, and then I tasted this and thought well that was a great meal I did little to make!

Lien, I have no idea if you could make this in a rice cooker...probably but who knows, I would just say you should get a slow cooker/crock pot when you get back to the states since you aren't on that tiny island much longer. 

I took this recipe from Food and Wine's website though, so they should get the credit.

Ingredients:

2lbs flank steak halved length wise and cut into four pieces each. I'll describe what I mean here later Lien, I am sure you are confused.

Salt and pepper

28 oz can of diced tomatoes

1/4 cup water

2 bell peppers diced

1 medium onion diced

1 jalapeno diced

1/2 teaspoon oregano

1/2 teaspoon of cumin

1 bay leaf

Warm tortillas and rice to serve with.

Food and Wine also calls for:

1/2 cup pitted green olives

2 tablespoons of capers

3 tablespoons of coarsely chopped cilantro

Chris doesn't like the first two on that, and the cilantro I just completely forgot about, though I am sure it would have been a delicious addition.

1. Take the flank steak and figure out how you should cut it. Since you are slow cooking the meal it should be in relatively medium-large chunks, thats the point of the cutting. I ended up having about 2-3 inch by 1-2 inch chunks of meat. So you don't have to follow the cut it length-wise bit, Lien. And now just chucking the whole piece of meat in the slow cooker, then it WONT cook! Well it would just take a really long time to cook.

2. Season the steak with salt and pepper. This means you should put more salt and pepper than you would think Lien. Don't like slather it on, but a good amount. It is also what will go towards seasoning the whole dish before you add more and helps to "tenderize" the meat.

3. Then add everything else except the tortillas and rice to the slow cooker. Add the flank steak and cook on high for 5 hours. You know it is done when the meat is basically falling apart. Take the meat out and let it rest for 10 minutes. Then shred it with two forks and return to the slow cooker. Season the sauce if need be with salt and pepper.

4. Add the olives, capers and cilantro if using.

5. Serve with tortillas and rice. Yum, yum

Here is the very blurry picture of it, without the beef added in again.