Crock Pot Ropa Vieja

A couple of weeks ago I got this Ropa Vieja recipe from a friend of a friend (also known as facebook stalking) and I thought I had to give it a try. A. We love latin flavors. B. I never make steak in the crock pot and this was a vetted recipe. Even better... I had all the ingredients (except the steak) already so I was good to go.

Being me, I couldn’t leave the recipe alone. I decided to switch out the jalapeno for an chipotle pepper in adobo. I happen to love these peppers, I never use a full can at once so I individually wrap the rest in plastic wrap and freeze them for later use. I also only had red peppers in the house so I decided I would fudge the green ones by using diced tomatoes that already had green pepper mixed in. I also doubled the garlic, because lets face it, I'm a garlic addict. I also added a thinly sliced zucchini to the mix to increase the veggies and served the whole thing over a bed of spiced brown rice. I really enjoyed my slightly altered version and would totally recommend it to any of my crock pot loving friends. If your family is not big on spice you may want to either eliminate the chipotle pepper or the rotel tomatoes but even our little B seemed to enjoy my slightly spicy version of this dish.

2 lbs flank steak, halved and cut into 4 pieces (a total of 8 pieces)
Salt and Pepper
1 cans of diced tomatoes (I used one with green peppers and one can with mild chilis)
½ C Water
1 red pepper, thinly sliced
1 medium onion, diced
4 garlic cloves, diced
1 chipolte pepper in adobo,
½ tsp oregano
½ tsp cumin
1 bay leaf
½ C pitted green olives
2 tbs capers
fresh chopped cilantro (garnish)
Serve on a bed of rice or in tortillas

Spiced Rice
1 C brown rice
1.5 C Water
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
½ tsp salt
Cook in a rice cooker until done

Season steak with S&P. Combine tomatoes with juices, water, peppers, onion, garlic and spices in the crock pot. Add steak and cover, cooking on high for 5 hours until the meat is tender. Transfer meat to cutting board and let it rest to cool. Discard the bay leaf (if you can find it) and add capers and olives to the sauce. Shred the meat using two forks to pull it apart and then place it back in the sauce to warm. Spoon the meat, veggies and sauce over rice and top with cilantro. Delish!