Shredded Flank Steak ~ Ropa Vieja ~ Coconut Flour Tortillas

Ropa Vieja on Coconut Flour Tortillas

Pressure Cooker Shredded Flank Steak

2 pounds flank steak

sea salt

1 large onion, quartered

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 cup chicken broth

Sprinkle flank steak with sea salt.  Place flank steak, quartered onion, garlic and broth in the bottom of a pressure cooker.  Bring liquid to a boil over medium high heat.  Place lid on pressure cooker and cook on high pressure for 20 minutes.  You may need to lower the burner to maintain proper pressure setting.

***Note:  I use a Kuhn Rikon 5 QT Pressure Cooker…If you have a different model cook according to manufacturer’s instructions included with your cooker.***

Remove from heat, release pressure.  Carefully remove lid.  Remove the flank steak to a cutting board and allow it to cool slightly.  Once cool enough to handle, shred the beef with two forks, coarsely chop and set aside.

For Ropa Vieja:

1 large onion, chopped

1 large green bell pepper, chopped

2 tsp. butter or oil of choice

4 garlic cloves, minced

15 ounces chopped tomatoes, undrained (I use Pomi)

2 Tbsp. fresh lime juice

2 tsp. hot sauce

1 tsp. sea salt

1/2 tsp. ground cumin

1/2 tsp. black pepper

In a large skillet, saute chopped onion and bell pepper in butter (or oil) over medium-high heat until tender.  Add minced garlic and saute 2 minutes.  Stir in salt, tomatoes, lime juice, hot sauce, cumin and black pepper.  Cook, stirring occasionally until most of the liquid has evaporated.  Add shredded flank steak to tomato mixture and stir until well combined.  Serve warm on coconut flour tortillas with a dollop of guacamole.

Shredded Flank Steak over sautéed onions and jalapenos with fresh tomatoes and cilantro

For Sautéed Onions and Jalapenos:

2 large onions, roughly chopped

2 jalapenos, seeded and chopped

1 Tbsp. butter or oil

salt and pepper to taste

2 Roma tomatoes, chopped

Fresh cilantro, chopped

In a large skillet, heat butter or oil over medium high heat, saute onions and jalapenos until soft.  Plate onions and jalapenos in a shallow soup bowl, top with shredded flank steak, chopped tomatoes and cilantro.  Serve warm.

Coconut Flour Tortillas

If you haven’t invested in the new Paleo Comfort Foods cookbook yet you are truly missing out…EVERY recipe I have tried has been completely amazing, including this recipe for Coconut Flour Tortillas.

Coconut Flour Tortillas:

1/4 cup coconut flour

8 large egg whites (about 1 cup)

1/4 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. chile powder (optional)

1/2 cup water

butter or coconut oil for frying

Whisk all the ingredients in a large bowl until smooth.  Preheat an 8″ nonstick skillet over medium heat.  Place about 1 tsp. butter or oil in the pan and swirl to coat evenly.  Ladle 2-3 Tbsp. of batter in the pan, tip the pan from side to side to get a thin layer of batter across the entire surface.  Once the first side is golden brown, use a very thin spatula to flip over to the opposite side again cooking until golden brown.  Remove the tortilla to a wire rack and repeat the entire process beginning with the oil or butter.  This recipe makes about 8 tortillas.  I like mine a bit thicker than a regular tortilla but you can add more water to make the batter thinner which will yield a thinner tortilla.

This recipe is shared at:

Fight Back Friday, Slightly Indulgent Tuesday, Fat Tuesday, Tasty Tuesday, Gluten-Free Wednesdays

Spicy Bacon & Beef Cottage Pie

There have been a ton of Shepherd’s Pie and Cottage Pie recipes making an appearance in the Paleo blogosphere lately.  They all look so tasty and like a wonderful, warm comforting food…today it was snowing in Colorado so I thought it would be the perfect day to try to make one.  Elana’s Pantry posted this recipe for Paleo Shepherd’s Pie recently using cauliflower mash for the topping and a few months back Jan’s Sushi Bar posted this Sweet and Spicy Cottage Pie using mashed vanilla sweet potatoes on top.  Melissa Joulwan’s Well Fed Cookbook has a fabulous recipe with many variations for Shepherd’s Pie using the traditional ground lamb as well as recipe on her blog for Cottage-Flower Pie.  My version pulls things from all three recipes and I will have to say it was FABULOUS!  This was the first Cottage Pie I have ever made and it sure will not be my last!  I was pleased with the photos of the Cottage Pie before it went in the oven and with the ones of it dished out in my bowl…the one of the final product after it was baked is not the best simply because I think I used too small of a casserole dish so the filling bubbled up over the sides of the cauliflower mash (and made a huge mess in the oven!)…now in my defense, I’ve never made this dish before so this could very well be a normal occurrence!  I am calling this “Spicy” simply because it is just that, SPICY…I like it that way but if you prefer a milder flavor I would omit half of the black pepper and all of the red pepper flakes.

Spicy Bacon & Beef Cottage Pie

Spicy Bacon & Beef Cottage Pie (Serves 4)

1/2 pound nitrate/nitrite free bacon, coarsely chopped

1/2 pound ground organic grass-fed beef

2 Tbsp. butter or coconut oil

1/2 large onion, diced

1 garlic clove, minced

1 cup diced carrots

1/2 cup diced celery

2 cups chopped kale, stems removed

1 1/2 cups tomato sauce

1/2 tsp. sea salt

1/2 tsp. black pepper

1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes

1/4 tsp. paprika

1 recipe Mashed Cauliflower

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  In a large skillet heat butter or oil over medium-high heat, saute onion until soft.  Add chopped bacon to the pan and saute until cooked, add carrots, celery and garlic and saute in the bacon fat until soft.  Add the ground beef to the pan with the bacon and vegetables and saute until browned.  Season the meat and vegetable mixture with the salt, pepper, red pepper flakes and paprika.  Stir in the tomato sauce, reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 15 – 20 minutes to allow the mixture to thicken.  Add the chopped kale and cook until the greens are wilted.  Transfer the meat and vegetable mixture to a casserole dish (the one I used was a 1.7L Pyrex…I’d go a bit bigger!).  Carefully spread the cauliflower mash (recipe follows) evenly over the top of the meat mixture.  Using the tines of a fork, lightly create some texture on top – the peaks and valleys make nice brown spots in the oven.  Bake for 20 – 30 minutes until the top begins to brown (I would have browned mine more but it was splattering all over the oven!).  Remove from oven and allow to rest for 5 – 10 minutes before serving.

Mashed Cauliflower

1 large head cauliflower, trimmed, chopped and steamed until very soft

1 garlic clove, minced

1 Tbsp. butter or coconut oil

2 Tbsp. heavy cream or coconut milk

salt and pepper, to taste

Place ingredients in a food processor and puree until smooth.

This recipe is shared at:

Fight Back Friday, Make Ahead Monday, Slightly Indulgent Tuesday, Tasty Tuesday, Fat Tuesday, Gluten-Free Wednesdays

Meat and Vegetable Mixture

Topped with Cauliflower Mash

The not-so-pretty finished product

Looks aren't everything...it tasted GREAT!

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