Ropa Vieja

I fell in love with this dish in Cuba! 

Well sort of...Ropa Vieja aka Cuban Shredded Beef is the most popular dish to have in Cuba. Everywhere you go it's on the menu so of course I wanted to try it. However, being that Cuba is a communist country sometimes they run out of the dish by mid afternoon. This is due to the government controlling the food supply. So once a certain dish or ingredient is out, it's out until further notice. 

Bummer, right!

Luckily, on my last night in Cuba (my Bday) the restaurant we went to had Ropa Vieja! So you know I ordered it. Now, if you are going to Cuba in the near future you must know one thing...The food is just, OK! Remember communist country? Well that goes for the spices too. They don't have readily the spices that we may have in the U.S. or other countries to make a dish flavorful. 

As soon as I got back to the states I was craving this yummy dish so I went and searched for a close to authentic recipe on Pinterest and found one that was pretty damn close from  Little Spice Jar where she makes it in the crock-pot - it is AMAZING!

So after recovering from Broccoli City Festival (A music festival here in DC - that everyone needs to attend once in their life) this past Sunday I put all of those mouthwatering ingredients in the crock-pot and let that baby cook for 8 hours. When I tell you, it came out so tender and yummy - OMG!!! 

I highly recommend trying this recipe - here. It's super easy - you throw it in the crock-pot before you leave for work and 8 hours later you're eating a Cuban favorite. Just make sure you have a mojito too!

Cheers to eating!