I like to think of Baked Stuffed Yuca as healthy stromboli; a gluten and grain-free yuca dough rolled around all nutritious, "real food" ingredients! They can be made vegan by filling them with only the sautéed veggies. These were made with organic grass-fed beef, onions, garlic, red peppers, heirloom tomatoes, and spinach with lots of herbs. Baked Stuffed Yuca has all the nutrition of a full meal rolled into one impressive appetizer, side dish, or main entree! I love dipping these Italian-inspired roll-ups in my favorite tomato sauce! YUM! Make them ahead of time, refrigerate or freeze, then slice and reheat when ready to serve. A true crowd pleaser!!
If using frozen yuca, it’s already peeled, cut, and ready to be boiled. There’s no need to even defrost it before boiling! Many find frozen yuca to be much more convenient.
Cut up boiled yuca into small chunks before placing it into food processor. *Pulverize yuca in small batches to avoid overheating the machine (about 1 - 1 1/2 cups chopped yuca at a time.) Yuca turns into dough in about 30-60 seconds.
Once dough forms, place onto a cutting board lined with parchment paper. *Note: dough can be very sticky. Parchment paper is a non-stick surface needed to easily work with this dough. If dough seems too sticky to work, place it into the freezer for 5-10 minutes. It's a miraculous trick to decrease the stickiness!
Using a rolling pin, roll out yuca dough between 2 pieces of parchment paper until about 1/4" thick.
While yuca is boiling, heat 2 frying pans. The first for browning the meat, and the second, along with 1 tablespoon avocado oil, to saute the vegetables.
Brown the organic grass-fed beef (or other meat of choice) for 7-10 minutes, until no longer pink.
In the second pan, add chopped organic onions and garlic. Saute for a minute or 2.
Once onions begin to brown, add chopped red peppers and tomatoes. Saute 2-3 minutes.
Add spinach, basil, oregano, parsley, salt, pepper, and chili powder and saute for another 2-3 minutes until spinach warms and wilts, and flavors mingle.
Place rolled out yuca dough, with parchment paper underneath, on counter or cutting board.
Spoon sauteed vegetables onto rolled out yuca dough, leaving a 1" edge at one end to prevent filling from overflowing, and allow dough to seal closed.
Starting at the end where the filling comes right up to the edge, carefully peel the edges of the dough away from parchment paper and begin to tightly roll dough around vegetables and meat (like a jelly roll.)
Place loaf on parchment lined baking sheet.
Sprinkle loaf with a pinch each of pink Himalayan salt, garlic powder, chili powder, and dried basil.
Baked stuffed yuca can be made ahead of time and kept in the refrigerator or freezer until ready to serve. Simply remove from refrigerator, (defrost if in freezer) slice, then bake slices at 350 degrees for 10 minutes, flip, then bake for an additional 5 minutes. SOOOOO GOOD!!!!