I’m reposting this delicious Cuban recipe to bring some excitement to your dinner table. If you can find affordable flank or skirt steak, take a chance on a recipe you might be unfamiliar with.

Ropa Vieja literally means old clothes or old rags, as it’s a Cuban Shredded Beef dish.  In Spanish, it sounds exotic. If I were to say, let’s make some old clothes in English, it would not sound so appealing, would it?

I got this idea and recipe for Ropa Vieja from the butcher at my local grocery store. I trust his word because he was an executive chef at a very ritzy hotel. Normally, I would not have chosen to slow cook flank steak, which is always quickly grilled. He convinced me to use the flank steak and I’m glad I stayed the course.

What Cut of Beef is used for Ropa Viaja?

Flank steak is the cut of meat most used for Ropa Vieja. It’s tough and stringy and requires long, slow cooking to get that delicious shredded meat. This slow cooking will build a complex flavor profile, while tenderizing at the same time.

I have seen some recipes that use chuck, which might taste good, but it’s not authentic. Chuck is short pieces of beef, and will be more like a ragu.

The main flavors for the Ropa Vieja come from oregano, paprika, cumin, tomatoes, olives and peppers, very similar in flavors to picadillo, another Cuban dish I made here.

What Peppers are used for Ropa Vieja?

The typical peppers for ropa vieja is green and bell peppers, not hot peppers.

Ropa Vieja, Cuban Shredded Beef, is the kind of dish to make in large quantities.

If you can, get a large piece of meat and make enough to freeze. This is the kind of dish that tastes better the next day, and freezes well for very quick meals.

Make sure the meat is fully cooled before freezing. I used a food saver to freeze. The food saver compresses out the air, vacuum seals, and prevents freezer burn. This is the first thing we bought together as a married couple eighteen years ago and we’re on our second saver.

How is Ropa Vieja Served?

Ropa Vieja is served with rice and beans.

I wasn’t sure how I wanted to serve Ropa Vieja so I asked people on instagram. Rice or Tortillas?

What I didn’t realize is that Cuban do not eat tortillas. This doesn’t mean you can’t do that; just know that’s not the authentic way this dish is served. Ropa Vieja is served with rice and beans.

I used fresh oregano out of my garden with a squeeze of lime. The meat is so flavorful, so enjoy it just as is without adding any extra toppings, but perhaps herbs and little extra chopped onion.

More Flank or Skirt Steak Recipes from Spinach Tiger

• Flank Steak in Honey Marinade
• Carne Asada Citrus Marinade
• Skirt Steak with Chimichurri

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Ropa Vieja

How to Cook Ropa Vieja, a cuban beef, in a crock pot.

Course Entree

Cuisine Cuban

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 6 hours hours

Total Time 6 hours hours 20 minutes minutes

Servings 8

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• salt
• pepper
• 1 flank steak
• 1 large onion chopped
• 3 bell peppers can use red, yellow, orange
• 6 cloves garlic peeled
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 2 16 ounce cans diced tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons vinegar wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar
• 10 spanish olives

Instructions

• Season flank steak with salt and pepper.
• Brown flank steak five minutes on each side on medium high heat. Remove from pot.
• You can brown the flank steak in separate pan and then remove to a slow cooker.
• In same pot you browned the flank steak In, sauté onion and peppers for about 5 minutes, stirring on low heat. Add In garlic cloves and saute for one minute.
• At this point proceed either with slow cooker method or dutch oven method,

Slow Cooker Method

• Add onions, peppers, garlic, one can diced tomato.
• Add in flank steak. You may need to cut flank steak into two pieces.
• Add about one cup beef broth or water, vinegar or enough liquid to just cover the flank steak.
• Add cumin and oregano.
• Cook for six on high, 10 hours on low.
• In last hour, add olives, second can of tomatoes.
• Once done, use a fork to shred beef. Serve with rice and beans

Dutch Oven Method

• Add flank steak back to dutch oven with the onions, peppers, garlic.
• Add one can of tomatoes, broth, vinegar. You need enough broth to cover beef.
• Add cumin and oregano. Season with salt and pepper.
• Cook on top of stove, very low for 4 hours. You can also put dutch oven inside oven at 300 degrees f. Make sure you have enough liquid and check frequently about every 30 minutes.
• In last hour, add olives, and second can of tomatoes.
• Once done, use a fork to shred beef.
• Serve with Rice and beans.

Notes

If making in a dutch oven, you can reduce the cooking time, but cook on a very low heat on to of stove for about 4 hours, or put in an oven no higher than 300 degrees. Make sure you have enough liquid in the pot.

Green Bell Pepper: It’s not necessary, but will add in another layer of flavor.

The post How to Make Ropa Vieja (Cuban Shredded Beef) appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

Confession time. Until this recipe, I never liked mac and cheese. I know I should be thrown out of the South for saying that, but wait, this homemade macaroni and cheese recipe changed my mind.

The problem I’ve had with macaroni and cheese is too often, there’s no there there. I’ve left it on plates in restaurants for being too milky, too flavorless or too dry.

This best homemade macaroni and cheese recipe works, and  is so good. Wear stretchy pants; you’ll eat seconds.

The recipe also has a story. My mom, Retro Rose, cut the recipe out of the Tennessean and saved it for years. She came over one day and we made it together. To my great surprise, it was fabulous.  I looked at the name and behold, it was from a Nashville friend and fellow blogger, Beth Sachan. That really made me smile, which is funny because her blog is called Eat.Drink.Smile.

I played a little bit with the original recipe as it was super rich, but it’s still gooey good.

It’s not the the first time my mind has been changed by food. I used to hate kale and now I have numerous kale recipes showing how wonderful it can be.

Sometimes people think they know themselves, but we are not an inanimate object; we are a living organism and we change our sleep patterns, our hairstyles, the size of our shoe heels, and the color of our lipstick. We also change our eating minds about what we like and don’t like. It’s all about exposure and that right moment.

My husband hated red wine until we accidentally found ourselves in the middle of a Chianti wine festival in Italy. I hated liver until I went to Paris. I hated macaroni and cheese until I moved to the South and had the crispy topped version like the one I’m showing you.

I like when macaroni and cheese is gooey inside, but still intact. It’s such a satisfying bite.

The best homemade macaroni and cheese recipe is not topped with breadcrumbs but instead toasted bread pieces. Trust me. You’ll never make it any other way after you’ve had it like this. It also has to hold together for me to like it. I like gooey instead of runny. This is all that and more.

Turn up the Heat in the Best Homemade Macaroni and Cheese Recipe by Adding Poblano Peppers

I added in some poblano peppers. You can further the heat by substituting one of the cheddar cheeses with a pepper cheese, or leave the heat out altogether.

The tricky part of a good mac n cheese is making the roux. This one is perfect and comes out every time.

Now that I am a big mac and cheese fan, be prepared for numerous versions, because I tend to geek out like that. I do have one mac and cheese appetizer here. You can save some of this for that.

Save the leftovers to make these mac n cheese nacho party bites.

So tell me, is there something you love eating now that you used to hate?

More Southern Recipes

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Poblano Mac and Cheese

How to make the best homemade macaroni and cheese, with poblano peppers and three cheese for a gooey mac n cheese that makes the South proud.

Course Entree

Cuisine American

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour

Servings 8

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 1 pound of elbow macaroni
• 2 tablespoons salt for macaroni water
• 8 ounces sharp cheddar cheese grated
• 8 ounces white cheddar cheese see notes
• 4 ounces gruyere
• 4 cups half and half or whole milk
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 6 tablespoons flour
• 1 poblano pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
• 4 slices tuscan type bread cut into one inch cubes (or use heavy farmhouse bread).

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 375 F.

Make macaroni.

• Cook elbow macaroni in large pot of boiling salted water, until tender but firm to the bite, stirring occasionally.
• Add in the poblano pepper into the boiling water and allow to blanch for four minutes, until nearly soft.
• Remove pepper to cool.
• Once macaroni is done, drain and set aside, adding in a tablespoon of butter and stirring.
• Once poblano pepper has cooled, trim stem, seed and dice into very small pieces.
• Using a medium sized, heavy duty sauce pan, warm the milk and cream together with the cayenne pepper, black pepper, and nutmeg.

Make roux.

• In a separate high sided frying pan or dutch oven pan, melt 4 tablespoons butter on medium low heat.
• Add the flour and continue to stir constantly with a whisk, until a roux has formed, about one minute. It will be smooth and thick.

Make cheese sauce.

• Add the warmed half and half to the roux.
• Continue to cook on medium heat until the mixture is thick, about 5 minutes, stirring constantly.
• Remove from heat. Add cheeses to the roux, reserving 1/2 cup cheese for the top.

AssembleMake macaroni and cheese.

• Spray your baking pan. Add poblano to macaroni.
• Put the drained macaroni into the pan.
• Mix cheese sauce and macaroni.
• Toast slices of tuscan bread cubes in oven until lightly toasted.
• Add on top of macaroni and cheese.
• Bake until bubbly about 30 minutes. Check at 15 minutes. If top is getting to browned, lightly top with foil.
• This will make (1) 13 x 9.

Notes

If you want to make the mac n cheese spicy, add cooked poblano and substitute white cheddar with pepper jack.

If you do not use the poblano peppers, add in a 1/8 teaspoon of freshly ground nutmeg. Keep the cayenne pepper.

The post Best Homemade Macaroni and Cheese Recipe appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

A chicken stuffed poblano pepper made with peaches, almonds, apples and cilantro is a bit unique in texture, flavor, sweet juiciness, creaminess and bold heat.

This is the best healthy recipe combining chicken and poblano peppers that I have ever eaten. It’s a take off on Chiles Nogada, which my friend, Erin, has mastered. She’s of Scottish decent but makes the best Mexican and Latina dishes I’ve ever sampled. She knows how much I love it, so every time I visit her in California she makes it for me. It’s originally made with ground meat, spices, dried fruit, stuffed into poblano peppers and topped with a cold walnut sauce. I remember one time she made it with Morning Star vegetarian sausage and it was still amazing. This combination of dried fruit, juicy fruit, chiles, and whatever meat you like comes together under the cold sauce. Often it will have pomegranates, but it’s not the season for those right now.

I decided to change it up a bit and use chicken instead of ground meat, and avocado sauce instead of walnut sauce. It’s hard to make this dish not taste good. I have a prejudice about chicken and I almost always cook it on the bone. I grilled chicken breasts for this version, but chicken thighs would work well too. Or, this is the perfect dish to use your left over roast chicken. You might want a binder for the chicken filling. I didn’t do that, but I’m thinking a bit of the avocado sauce could do that or even a tablespoon of mayonnaise. This is the dish that you will make your own.

This is also my submission to the Creative Cooking Group where this month’s challenge was all about stuffing it. This really made me think, because I don’t stuff a lot of food. I did one very beautiful stuffed squash blossom last summer and I think that’s the only thing I’ve ever stuffed here.

Cooking with Poblanos

A word about cooking with poblanos. Did you ever notice that poblanos are temperamental. Sometimes they are kind of mild and other times, wow, they are hot. Poblano peppers register between 1,000 and 2,000 on the scoville scale. For a reference point, the bell pepper measures zero and the jalapeno measures 2,500 to 8,000. A habanero pepper measures 100,000 to 350,000, so in the world of chiles, poblanos are actually considered mild.  When it comes to the poblano chiles, it can be a little bit of guessing game, and I always seem to pick the ones that are a bit hotter, which is why this dish is served with a cold sauce.

I have not yet perfected the fire roasting. At times I went too far and I had a hard time getting the charred skin off. The first attempt was to grill the peppers, which doesn’t do the job quickly enough. In the end, I just laid them on my gas stove. After I had my struggle, I read these great tips, and I’ll follow them the next time.

Often, stuffed poblano peppers come with a walnut sauce, but I wanted a pretty color and a very creamy sauce. I chanced the combination of avocado and coconut milk and it was delicious. The coconut milk did not overpower the sauce and the lime and cilantro, or in this case parsley, garnish pulled it all together. The most important part of the dish for me were the peaches. Peaches don’t cook down, so they remain intact, sweet and juicy, helping to offset the heat. In the end the dish is very balanced.

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Chicken Stuffed Poblano Pepper with Avocado Sauce

A Healthy version of chiles Nogada

Course Entree

Cuisine Mexican

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 5 minutes minutes

Total Time 35 minutes minutes

Servings 2

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 4 large poblano peppers

Avocado Sauce

• 1 avocado
• 1/2 cup coconut milk full fat
• zest of 1 lime
• juice of one lime

Chicken Filling

• olive oil
• 1 large chicken boneless
• 1 small onion chopped
• 1 garlic clove
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 cup sliced almonds
• 1 peach peeled, diced
• 1/2 small green apple diced
• 2 tablespoons dried peaches can use apricots or use 2 fresh peaches
• 1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
• Cilantro for garnish

Instructions

• Roast peppers on grill or directly over fire of gas stove until charred. Carefully, using gloves, put in clean towel, rub to get skins off. Slit and take out seeds, rinse in cold water.
• Make Sauce and chill before making chicken filling.

Avocado Sauce

• Mix avocado, coconut milk, salt, pepper, lime juice and lime zest in blender.
• Blend until creamy. Chill.

Chicken Filling

• Salt and Grill boneless chicken breast. Chop and set aside.
• In a pan saute onion for a few minutes. Add in garlic, and cook to golden.
• Add in peaches, apple, dried peaches, cinnamon, cilantro, chicken, salt and pepper and saute for a few more minutes until warmed through.
• Cool enough to stuff into poblano peppers.
• Warm in oven of 350 degrees until warmed through.
• Serve with cold avocado sauce.
• Garnish with Cilantro, lime zest (or parsley)

The post Chicken Stuffed Poblano Pepper with Avocado Sauce appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

Every farmer has a story and if it’s a local farmer who family has farmed for generations, it’s a story that belongs to everyone. The Burns family is not much different than any other farm in the middle Tennessee area, but it’s a whole lot different from the farms that mass produce the product that you often purchase in your local grocery store that were picked weeks ago.

The Burns Farm used to be a dairy farm, but for the last several years it’s only been fruits and vegetables, lots and lots of fruits and vegetables.

The Goal of the Burns Farm Produce Stand is to provide the cleanest, best selection of Tennessee produce at affordable prices, following in his father’s footsteps, known as Mr Bob.

When you stop by the stand, you might actually meet the person who picked those juicy red tomatoes. When you stop by the farm, you can ask to take a walk and see where the food was grown. When you stop by the farm, you can ask questions about farming practices that the patriarch of the family, the late Mr. Bob Burns, perfected and passed down to his children. His son Bobby Burns is a friendly man with a bigger than life personality. Because he’s a friend, I’ve been able to watch the entire season grow from the beginning. I’ve been driven all over the 300 acres and I’ve even been up on the tractor, where I was given a chance to drive it, but politely declined. Bobby grew up on this farm and learned the best farming practices from his father. Mr. Bob went on to his resting place this year, and I’m sorry I didn’t get to know him. When Bobby talks about the legacy his father left, it’s one of those heart warming, American stories. There’s not a day that goes by that he isn’t missed, and remembered for his passion for farming. Growing corn and his famous tomatoes were his passion.

The planting this Spring was fierce with 15,000 tomato plants, including Pink Girl, Mountain Fresh and my personal favorite to make tomato sauce, San Marzano.  Wait till you see the tomato tart I made, but remember last year’s tomato jam? This year there will so many more tomato recipes.

There are thousands and thousands of peppers of many varieties, including banana, bell, cayenne, habanero, poblano, jalapeno and sweet Italian. You will find peaches and cream corn, potatoes, watermelon, cantaloupes, blackberries, onions and more. Just yesterday I picked up some poblano peppers, which have a nice bit of heat, and stuffed them with chicken, peaches and onions for an amazing take on Chiles en Nogada. (stay tuned for the recipe).

There are peaches and last week I made this peach cobbler and provided some tips on peeling peaches. There are blackberries and stay tuned because a blackberry cobbler is coming.

In the Fall, there will turnips, greens, and pumpkins, which means once you get comfortable driving over to the Burns Farm Produce Stand, you make it a weekly trip. Remember these roasted turnips.

While the farm is not certified organic, they use all natural fertilizer and natural pesticides only when necessary. Their farming practices are much safer than mass produced products.

Bobby Burns is working the 300 acre farm along with 10 farm hands this year, and if he’s around, he’ll be happy to tell you a lot more about what’s planted, and when each crop will be at it’s prime.

I love the mule collars hanging on the wall.

There are also Amish jams, jellies, pickles, etc. available for purchase.

This picture was taken a few weeks ago. The tomatoes are all red and ripe now, and I made the best homemade tomato soup with a batch of them, using only tomatoes, onion, salt and pepper. (recipe coming).

Peaches & Cream Corn is off the hook good. Try it with this corn salad, where I post a recipe for how to make corn in the husk and it only takes 4 minutes.

There is also some Amish-made furniture available for sale.

I love history and old farm equipment. The scale is over 100 years old.

Bobby Burns, a friend, and a bigger than life personality will be glad to show you around the farm. If he’s working the stand, he’ll be close by.

Every farm has a family dog. Coppy (Copper) knows every inch of the farm.

Follow the Burns Farm Stand on Facebook to see what is available each day.

Cash or Check only. Open every day.

6288 PATTON ROAD
Arrington, Tennessee 37014

(Right up the road from Arrington Vineyards)

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