If last week’s Pear Cake was a flirtation with Fall, this week’s recipe is a full-blown courtship! As much as I love Summer, this warm and cozy dinner is allowing me to continue to see the positives of the changing season. Ropa Vieja is an authentic Cuban dish I love. This stew is a variation I made using poblano peppers we received from our Rexcroft Farm CSA share last week. They were red, not green. I’m not sure why but, the flavor was the same and I loved the twist. We received some red jalapeños this season as well. Same thing with regards to the flavor. I was equally excited by the different color. I have to ask the farmer why some are red. Do any of you know?
Either way, you can make this stew with traditional green poblanos and still get the same delicious hearty flavor. Poblanos are a bit spicy. If you prefer a milder stew, go ahead and use red or green bell peppers in their place. I served the flank steak shredded on top of toasted Joan’s gluten-free corn muffins. I discovered them at the GFCalendar event last week. Joan was toasting them up and serving them with butter at her booth. They are delicious and the multigrain english muffins she made truly blew me away. Joan was such a firecracker and she told me all about how she started making these for her grandchildren when they were diagnosed with celiac. She worked with a nutritionist to ensure they are healthy with no preservatives. As a bonus for me, they are completely nut-free which is pretty hard to find with any baked goods, especially gluten-free. Here is a list of stores where they are available.
Spicy flank steak stew, cornbread and cooler weather. Just add a Sunday afternoon and some football. Yup. Fall is officially here and I’m not mad about it at all.
- 4 oz thick-cut bacon, chopped
- 2½ lbs flank steak, trimmed and cut into 1" cubes
- salt and pepper to taste
- canola oil, as needed, for browning
- 2 poblano peppers, sliced
- 1 large yellow onion, sliced
- 5 garlic cloves, chopped
- 1 tsp cumin
- ½ tsp chili powder
- 1 8oz can tomato sauce
- 4 cups low sodium veal stock (you can substitute beef stock)
- 1 pkt Goya Sazon with Coriander and Annatto
- ¼ cup pitted black olives
- Season flank steak all over with salt and pepper. Cook bacon over medium heat in a large dutch oven or stock pot until fat is rendered and pieces are crispy and remove with a slotted spoon. (My kids ended up eating all of the bacon so I didn't return it back to the pot. Just extracted the flavor and used the fat to brown the meat).Raise heat to medium-high. Add flank steak and brown all over, in batches. Add canola oil, if needed, to precent the pan from burning while browning the meat. Remove to a side dish.
- Add poblano peppers and onion and toss regularly until softened and beginning to brown at edges (about 5-7 minutes). Add garlic, cumin and chili powder and stir frequently until fragrant (about 30 seconds to 1 minute). Add tomato sauce and use a wooden spoon to scrape up browned bits from the bottom of the pan.
- Add browned flank steak, veal stock, Goya Sazon and black olives. Bring to a boil and reduce to simmering. Simmer for about 2 hours until meat is tender enough to pull apart with two forks. Serve over your favorite corn bread, with tortillas or rice and enjoy!
The red pobalnos and jalepenos are just riper than the green ones. Dried red pobalnos are anchos.