Cuba - ¡Buen provecho!
After cooking from lots of cabbage and stew-loving countries I was excited to give Cuban cooking a try. I researched the most common and popular recipes, we noticed that Sofrito was in many dishes, so we wanted to try one that had it. While ropa vieja and flan are both foods I’ve had before, I’d never cooked either of them, so I figured, why not? See below for the recipes, my thoughts on the dishes, and pictures!
Ropa Vieja
Serves 6
Ratings:
Taste: 8 The meat turned out wonderfully tender and very flavorful. I would have liked it with a little more spice in it, however. Maybe I’ll throw in a jalapeno next time.
Intangibles: 6 While Ropa Vieja is traditionally from Cuba, it didn’t feel that unique to Cuba. It kind of reminded me of Vaca Frita and other steak dishes I’ve had from countries in that region.
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 lbs flank steak, cut in strips - I’m not used to buying flank steak, it was pricey!
- 5 tablespoons oil
- 2 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic or 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 large onion, diced
- 1 green pepper, diced
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
- 1 cup water
- 6 ounces sofrito sauce (recipe below)
Directions
1. Heat 3 tbsp. oil in skillet on medium, brown meat on all sides.
So. much. meat.
2. Remove from skillet, add remaining oil to skillet, stir in garlic, onion and green pepper and cook until translucent.
3. Stir in black pepper, browned meat, tomato sauce, water and sofrito (recipe below). Simmer until meat is tender and shreds easily, about 1 hour.
4. Serve on top of rice.
Sofrito
Serves 6
Ratings:
Taste: 4 The sofrito was a little bland. I couldn’t really distinguish it when eating the ropa vieja and I wasn’t motivated to eat it alone or on top of something else when we had TONS of leftovers.
Intangibles: 8 Since I saw sofrito in so many Cuban recipes, I read about it a little more and it really does seem to be a vital part of their cuisine. I’ll chalk my dislike of it to poor preparation, this time.
- 21 cherry tomatoes, chopped
- 2 green peppers, chopped
- 2 large onions, chopped
- 8 to 10 garlic cloves, chopped
- 1 or 2 bay leaves
- touch of ground cumin
- touch of dried oregano
- 3/4 cup Sherry, or to taste
- 4 Tbsp olive oil
- Salt to taste (optional)
Directions
1. Saute tomatoes, peppers, onion, garlic, bay leaves, cumin and oregano in oil slowly until all vegetables are limp.
2. Add Sherry and let simmer. If you add the salt, taste beforehand as you might not need it at all.
Cuban Flan (Flan Cubano)
Serves 8
Ratings:
Taste: 7 This recipe was a miracle, I really thought I’d be picking it out of my souffle dishes. Luckily, that didn’t happen and it turned out just beautifully! Great custard-like texture and it tasted great both warm and cold.
Intangibles: 7 It was great to try cooking something that you see on the menu at many Caribbean and Mexican restaurants. Maybe it would have felt more authentic with some deep-fried ice cream (jk!).
- 4 egg yolks
- 4 whole eggs
- 2 cups milk
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 1 tspn vanilla
- 1 lemon peel
- 1 cinnamon stick
Directions
1. First to prepare the caramel, add the water and 3/4 cups of sugar into a small saucepan and cook over medium heat until the sugar begins to melt. Make sure to stir while the sugar is melting.
2. Once the sugar begins to melt (the sugar begins to caramelize), remove the sugar from the heat and pour into a flan pan (I just used large ramekins). Make sure you cover the bottom of the pan as well as the sides.
3. Next, place the milk, lemon peel and cinnamon stick into a saucepan and bring the milk into a boil (over medium high heat). Make sure to stir the milk constantly while it begins to scald.
4. Remove from heat and let it cool (for about 15 mins or so).
5. Remove the lemon peel and cinnamon stick.
6. In a large bowl, beat the eggs and egg yolks with 3/4 cups of sugar and vanilla.
7. Pour the cooled milk into the bowl and then strain the bowl contents into the flan dish covered with the caramel coating.
8. Set the flan dish inside a large pan filled with about an inch of water.
Flan - going into the oven
9. Bake to 350 degrees for an hour or until you insert a knife in the center and it comes out dry. Remove from the oven and let cool. Remove from dish by inserting knife around the edges to loosen the flan, and then covering flan dish with a serving dish and turning it upside down until flan falls onto the serving dish.
10. Serve warm and enjoy!