On my recent trip to Miami, I had the pleasure of experiencing so many different cultures and enjoying their different foods, which I absolutely fell in love with. The flavours, the colours, the freshness, everything was amazing. Miami was incredible, everyone was vibrant and vivacious, such an exciting place to visit; and the food scored very highly in my book. I particularly enjoyed some of the Cuban food that I got to taste, so much so that I wanted to share this Cuban shredded beef, recipe with you.
Servings: Serves 6-8
Ingredients
- 170g bacon, roughly chopped
- 900g steak, cut into strips
- Salt and black pepper, to taste
- 1 medium onion, thinly sliced
- 1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
- 1 Cuban pepper or 1 green pepper, thinly sliced
- 170g tomato paste
- 1 tbsp cumin
- 1 tbsp dried thyme
- 1 tbsp dried oregano
- 5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 1 bay leaf
- 118ml dry white wine (optional)
- 473ml beef stock
- 1 tin of tomatoes
- 64g green olives, pitted and halved
- 1 tbsp. white wine vinegar
- 32g roughly chopped coriander
 Method
 On a medium – high heat cook the bacon (render it) in a large pot; and then transfer it to a plate, leaving the fat in the pot.
Season the steak with salt and pepper. Working in batches, add the steak to the pot and cook it until it is all browned on both sides, about 6 minutes; then transfer it to a plate. Now add the onions and peppers and cook them until soft, about 4 minutes. Add tomato paste, cumin, thyme, oregano, garlic, and the bay leaf; and cook until lightly caramelized, about 3 minutes. Add wine to the pot and cook, for 1 minute
Now return the bacon and steak to the pot with the stock and tomatoes and boil, reducing the heat to a medium-low heat; cover the pot and cook until the steak is very tender, 2–3 hours.
Finally remove the steak, and shred it (by using two forks to tear the pieces apart or using your hands); return it and add olives and white wine vinegar. Cook for a further 30 minutes, until sauce is slightly thickened, and stir in coriander before serving.
Serving
Serve hot, wit curry rice or plain rice and beans. Enjoy.
Yaabah! A gazillion ingredients.
Mine tastes better; Chunks of roughly cut goat meat, onions and chilies, cooked in grease proof brown paper on medium hot charcoal fire. Served with ice cold castle lager. You cannot beat that!