Ropa Vieja Stuffed Onion
Ropa vieja, the delicious Cuban stew of shredded meat and peppers, stuffed in an onion and smothered in cheese! How could you resist? I love ropa vieja. Anything with shredded meat is probably my favorite category of food. the slow cooking adds so much flavor and juicy goodness to the fatty delicious meat. Ropa vieja is also one of my favorite names for a dish. It translates to “old cloths” because the plated dish with the long shreds of meat and colorful peppers can look like a pile of laundry!
The idea for this recipe
I was craving ropa vieja, a cuban beef stew with long shreds of meat and red and green peppers. At the grocery store, bottom loin roast was on sale. Knowing the bottom loin would act the same way as flank in a braise, I decided to use that instead of the pricy flank steak that it is usually made with. I got 3 times the meat for the same price so I made a ton and vacuum sealed the extras!
I ended up with all the leftover ropa vieja and wanted to do something new with it, and that is where the idea for these onions came from!
Making the ropa vieja
Meat, onions, and peppers in the pot. The sauce is wine, tomatoes, chipotle, and some spices. So much flavor!
After it cooks a few hours, shred it up, add the olives, and cook a few more minutes
I mentioned earlier, I had a nice big plate of this for dinner, then used the leftovers for the onions!
If you are looking for an authentic ropa vieja recipe, check this one out!
Preparing the onions for stuffing
Chop the top off the onions. Peel the onions and use a spoon to hollow them out. BEWARE! you will be crying during this step because the spoon will bruise the onions. Continue with the spoon until there is only one layer of onion. The core at the bottom might pop out, and if that happens, just use one of the internal layers of the onion to block the hole.
Stuffing the ropa vieja into the onions
A few days later I stuffed the meat into the onions and roasted them, topping with cheese towards the end of the roasting. The onion was the perfect size to hold a portion of the stew. Really stuff it in there!
Only top it with the cheese for the last 5 minutes of cooking.
Serving the ropa vieja stuffed onions
I served it with plantains this time around to add something else new to the dish. Serve with plenty of hot sauce!
The stew gets even better a few days later as the flavors meld together.
Adding cheese was a nice touch as well.
YES!
Twists on this dish
You could stuff an onion with your favorite stew as long as it is pretty thick and there isnt much liquid. However, if you really wanted to do any stew, you could probably strain the stew, stuff the solids into the onion, and then use the liquids later as a sauce!
If you love stuffing one food into another like me (I wrote a whole book about it) check out my recipes for meatball stuffed rigatoni, egg yolk stuffed french toast, and mac and cheese chile rellenos!
Ropa Vieja Stuffed Onion
Ingredients
- 2 pounds bottom loin tri tip, or flank steak
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 green bell pepper sliced thin
- 1 large onion sliced thin
- 1 canned chipotle pepper in adobo sauce plus 1 tablespoon of the sauce from the can
- 1/2 cup white wine
- 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
- 1 14 ounce can diced tomato
- 1 tablespoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 pinch allspice
- 1/2 cup chopped green olives
- 5 large onions
- 4 ounces pepperjack cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325
- Heat some oil in a dutch oven or oven safe pot. Add the meat and cook on high heat to brown. Flip and brown on all sides.
- Turn heat to medium and add the garlic. Cook 1 minute, stirring.
- Add all of the remaining ingredients except for the olives. Move everything around in the pan a little to combine the liquids and spices but don’t worry about it too much. Place the pot into the oven and allow to cook for two and a half hours.
- Remove pot from the oven and shred the meat and stir everything together. If the meat won’t shred, return to the oven and continue to cook until it is tender enough.
- Add the olives and cook 15 more minutes.
- Preheat oven to 400.
- Chop the top off the onions. Peel the onions and use a spoon to hollow them out. You will be crying during this step because the spoon will bruise the onions. Bring them down to only one layer. The core at the bottom might pop out, and if that happens, just use one of the internal layers of the onion to block the hole.
- Stuff the ropa vieja into the onions. Make sure to add some of the juices. Brush the outside of the onion with vegetable oil.
- Bake the onions for 45 minutes to an hour until the onions are tender. Top with cheese and bake another 10 minutes.
- Serve with rice and sweet plantains.
This is incredible .yummy ! I will be over for dinner .