PICADILLO

Latin-American seasoned chopped beef

Picadillo is a great favorite throughout Latin America, and every country has its own version. In Mexico it is much appreciated as a filling for tacos, empanadas, tamales, and green peppers. In the north of the country it is popular on its own and is eaten as a main dish, accompanied by rice, beans, guacamole, and tortillas.

Ingredients

• 3 Tbsp olive or vegetable oil
• 2 lbs lean ground beef
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
• 3 medium tomatoes, peeled and chopped
• 2 tart cooking apples, peeled, cored and chopped
• 1 jalapeno chili, seeded and chopped (or more to taste).
• 1/2 cup raisins (soaked 10 minutes in warm water)
• 1/2 cup pimento-stuffed olives, cut in half crosswise
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 1/2 tsp thyme
• salt
• pepper
• 1 Tbsp butter
• 1/2 cup slivered almonds

Procedure

1. Heat the oil in a large, heavy skillet. Add the beef and sautae until it is lightly browned, stirring to break up any lumps.
2. Add the onion and garlic and sautae for 5 minutes longer.
3. Add all the remaining ingredients except the butter and the almonds. Mix well and simmer, uncovered, over moderate heat, stirring from time to time, for 20 minutes.
4. In a small skillet, heat the butter and sautae the almonds until they are golden brown.
5. Mound the beef onto a serving platter and sprinkle with the almonds. Surround it with a border of rice.

Notes

In Chihuahua, the apple is left out and 4 medium potatoes, cooked and cubed, and 2 cups cooked green peas are added to the beef at the end of the cooking time for just long enough to heat them through. This makes a nice one-dish meal.

Picadillo de la Costa from the state of Guerrero, best known for the beach resort of Acapulco, uses the tropical fruits in which the region abounds, and instead of beef uses an equal mixture of ground pork and veal. The method is the same but the meats, with the onion, garlic, tomatoes, hot peppers, salt, and pepper, are cooked, uncovered, for 15 minutes. Then add 1 1/2 cups pineapple chunks, 2 pears (peeled, cored, and cut in chunks) and 2 bananas (peeled and sliced) are added and the mixture simmered for 15 minutes longer over low heat. Sprinkle with almonds just before serving. This is a delicious summer dish, good with plain rice.

In addition to the almonds, I add fresh coriander leaves as a garnish.

Rating

Contributor

 
Nancy Mintz 
UNIX System Development Lab, AT&T-IS, Summit, NJ 
ihnp4!attunix!nlm 
 

Original header

Path: decwrl!recipes
From: nlm@attunix (Nancy Mintz)
Newsgroups: mod.recipes
Subject: RECIPE: Picadillo (Seasoned Chopped Beef)
Message-ID: <6625@decwrl.DEC.COM>
Date: 28 Nov 86 04:35:53 GMT
Sender: recipes@decwrl.DEC.COM
Organization: AT&T UNIX Dev. Lab, Summit, New Jersey, USA
Lines: 92
Approved: reid@decwrl.UUCP


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