Picadillo

Picadillo is a South American dish usually consisting of ground beef with tomato, olives, raisins and almonds.  I don't know where I first heard of it but I first started making it in my mid twenties and I'm pretty sure I just winged it armed only with the knowledge that it was made with beef and contained olives, raisins and almonds.  I have no idea how close to authentic my recipe is but it's mighty tasty.

If you don't have all of the ingredients on hand you can easily improvise.  I did not have any green pepper as called for in the recipe when I made this pictured version so I substituted red pepper and it worked out fine.  The masa I was going to use for the sopes I planned to serve this with was rancid so I made polenta instead.  Picadillo goes well with refried black beans.

Home Cookin v9.81 Chapter: My Recipes PICADILLO 2 Tbsp grapeseed oil
1 med onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 green bell pepper, diced
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1 lb. ground beef
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried chilies, or to taste
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup roughly chopped green olives
1/2 cup raisins
1/4 cup slivered almonds

Green onions and cilantro for garnish

Heat oil in large skillet over medium high heat. Add onion, season with salt, and cook for two minutes. Add the garlic and green pepper and cook until the onion is translucent, three or four more minutes.

Add the tomato paste and stir to ix it in with the vegetables. Cook for a couple of minutes until the color has deepend. Add the cumin and cook for a minute, stirring constantly.

Add the ground beef, oregano and dried peppers. Season with more salt and brown thoroughly, breaking it up so there are no clumps and it is thoroughly mixed into the vegetable mixture. If the mixture becomes too dry, add water in small amounts at a time.

Once the meat has browned add the olives and raisins and cook until heated through and the raisins have plumped some. Remove from the heat and add the almonds.

Garnish with chopped green onions and cilantro.

10/27/09

Exported from Home Cookin v9.81 (http:\\mountainsoftware.com)