RECIPE: Picadillo

This recipe was given to me by myzkyti and I have loved it dearly. I made a few alterations, but mostly the credit goes to her 🙂

PICADILLO

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb. ground beef
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can cut green beans, drained
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/4 sliced green olives
1/8 cup capers
4 cloves minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/4 ground black pepper
2 good sized bay leaves
1 teaspoon olive oil

INSTRUCTIONS

1.) Heat olive oil in a large skillet with a lid. Add onion and garlic and saute for about two minutes. Add the ground beef and brown, stirring so that the beef doesn’t clump. Add the spices (except for the bay leaves) to the beef mixture and stir. (You can also add a little brown sugar at this point if you’re not trying to be Atkins Friendly ;} )

2.) Add the capers, olives and green beans to the mixture and cook for a few minutes until warmed, then add the diced tomatoes, including the juice. Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally, then add the raisins and the bay leaves.

3.) Cover and simmer for a good twenty minutes, stirring occasionally. The longer you let it stew, the better. Cooking it, letting it sit in the fridge over night, and then reheating it is even better. Like stew, this dish improves as it sits.

4.) Remove the bay leaves and serve over rice (I prefer brown), on tortillas, on chips with a side of salsa, or however you prefer. If the mixture is too dry to simmer, you can always add a little water or sherry to sauce it up. If it’s too watery, take the lid off and let it boil away for a while, then resume simmering.

Like I said, it’s a pretty approximate recipe, but lots of fun to play with. Green beans are just my current favorite addition. I may try adding corn at some point too, to really get a good colour mix of veggies :}

2 thoughts on “RECIPE: Picadillo”

  1. Actually, if you can get Nopalitos, those are even better than green beans, but since those are sort of hard to come by, green beans are a good sub :} I’m glad you still like the recipe!

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