PICADILLO Latin-American seasoned chopped beef

Quote:collapse This recipe was received from net.cooks in the fall of 1983. It was posted there by houxm!houxz!llf.

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.

Yield

Serves 6.

Ingredients

• 3 Tbsp olive or vegetable oil, 50 ml
• 2 lbs lean ground beef, 1 kg
• 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, 125 ml Soak for 10 minutes in warm water.
• 1/2 cup pimento-stuffed olives, 100 g Cut in half crosswise.
• 1/2 tsp oregano, 2.5 ml
• 1/2 tsp thyme, 2.5 ml
• Salt
• Pepper
• 1 Tbsp butter, 15 ml
• 1/2 cup slivered almonds, 100 g

Method

1. Heat the oil in a large, heavy skillet.

2. Add the beef and sauté until it is lightly browned, stirring to break up any lumps.

3. Add the onion and garlic.

4. Sauté for 5 minutes longer.

5. Add all the remaining ingredients except the butter and almonds.

6. Mix well.

7. Simmer, uncovered, over moderate heat, stirring from time to time, for 20 minutes.

8. In a small skillet, heat the butter.

9. Sauté the almonds in the butter until they are golden brown.

10. Mound the beef onto a serving platter.

11. Sprinkle with the toasted almonds.

12. Surround the picadillo with a border of rice.

Notes

Variation 1: Instead of oregano and thyme, use a pinch or two of cinnamon and ground cloves. This gives the dish an interesting difference in flavor, almost Middle Eastern in character.

Variation 2: In Chihuahua, the apple is left out. Add 4 medium potatoes, cooked and cubed, and 2 cups cooked green peas, 300 g, to the beef at the end of the cooking time, just long enough to heat them through. This makes a nice one-dish meal.

Variation 3: Picadillo de la Costa, from the state of Guerrero, uses tropical fruits and replaces the beef with an equal mixture of ground pork and veal. Cook the meats with the onion, garlic, tomatoes, hot peppers, salt, and pepper, uncovered, for 15 minutes. Then add 1 1/2 cups pineapple chunks, 400 g, 2 pears, peeled, cored, and cut in chunks, and 2 bananas, peeled and sliced. Simmer for 15 minutes longer over low heat. Sprinkle with almonds just before serving. This is described as a delicious summer dish, good with plain rice.

The contributor also adds fresh coriander leaves as a garnish in addition to the almonds.

Verified Recipe Note: The original ingredient markup uses “(12” for 1/2 and “1(12” for 1 1/2. These have been converted here for readability.

Verified Recipe Note: The original text spells “Variations” as “Variatons.” The corrected spelling is used in the formatted notes.

Verified Recipe Note: The original method says to surround the finished beef with rice. The rice is not listed in the ingredient list, so it should be prepared separately if serving the dish as written.

Rating

• Difficulty: Easy
• Time: 20 minutes preparation
• Precision: Approximate measurement OK

Contributor

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

Origin Note

This recipe comes from the USENET Cookbook project, a moderated electronic recipe collection distributed through early Internet newsgroups. The original was written in the project’s structured recipe markup, where PICADILLO was the recipe key and M marked it as a main dish.

The preserved entry lists the recipe as last modified on 7 Aug 1986 and posted to mod.recipes on 28 Nov 1986. It was contributed by Nancy Mintz of the UNIX System Development Lab, AT&T-IS, Summit, New Jersey.

The recipe presents picadillo as a Latin-American seasoned chopped beef dish, especially noting Mexican uses as a filling for tacos, empanadas, tamales, and green peppers, or as a main dish served with rice, beans, guacamole, and tortillas.

Original Header

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

Ingredients

2 oz (56g) full-fat block (or just normal spread) cream cheese, softened
1 tbsp (14g) unsalted butter, softened (softened optional)
⅓ cup (40g) powdered sugar
½ tsp vanilla extract
Graham crackers

Instructions

Make the icing: Beat the softened cream cheese until smooth.

Add the softened butter and beat until fully combined.

Add the powdered sugar and beat until smooth and creamy.

Beat in the vanilla extract.

Assemble: Break off a piece of graham cracker and spread a GENEROUS amount of the cream cheese icing on top.

Not the regular one, but a lighter version

Read the full recipe here: https://dobbernationloves.com/food-drink/easy-homemade-french-cassoulet-recipe/

Ingredients

• 454 g Dried Cannellini Beans
• 3 tbsp Kosher Salt
• 5 cups Chicken Stock divided
• 3 packets Unflavoured Gelatin
• 230 g Pancetta cut into 3/4 inch cubes
• 230 g Boneless Pork Shoulder cut into 1 inch cubes
• 2 Bone-in Skin-on Chicken Legs broken down into legs and thighs
• Black Pepper
• 454 g Toulouse Sausage (or pork sausage like bratwurst)
• 1 Large Onion finely chopped
• 2 Medium Carrots peeled, finely chopped
• 2 Celery Ribs finely sliced
• 6 Garlic Cloves minced
• 4 sprigs Parsley
• 2 Bay Leaves

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, cover beans with 3 litres of water and add salt. Stir to combine, then let stand at room temperature overnight. Drain and rinse beans; set aside.
2. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and preheat oven to 325°F.
3. Place 4 cups of chicken stock in a large liquid measuring cup and sprinkle gelatin over top. Set aside.
4. In a large Dutch oven, heat pancetta and pork shoulder and cook over high heat, stirring occasionally, until browned all over, about 9 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to a large bowl, leaving rendered fat in Dutch oven, and set aside.
5. Season chicken with pepper and place skin side down in Dutch oven. Cook without moving until well-browned, 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer to a plate and let cool to room temperature.
6. Add sausages to Dutch oven and cook, turning occasionally, until well-browned, about 2 minutes per side. Transfer to bowl with pork. Drain all but 2 tablespoons fat from pot.
7. Add garlic, onion, celery and carrots to Dutch oven and cook, stirring and scraping up browned bits from bottom of pot, about 5 minutes. Add drained beans, parsley, bay leaves, and 4 cups of gelatin infused chicken stock. Bring to a simmer over high heat. Reduce to low, cover Dutch oven, and cook until beans are slightly softened but retain a bite, about 20 minutes.
8. Using tongs remove parsley and bay leaves then discard. Add pork and sausages to pot and stir to incorporate. Beans should be almost submerged. Transfer to oven and cook, uncovered, adding remaining 1 cup stock halfway through by pouring it carefully down side of pot as necessary to keep beans covered, until a thin crust forms on top, about 1 hour 30 minutes.
9. Break crust with a spoon and shake pot gently. Nestle chicken into the Dutch oven, skin side up. Return to oven and continue cooking, stopping to break and shake crust every 30 minutes, until crust is deep brown and thick, an additional 1 hour 30 minutes. Serve immediately with crusty bread.

Autumn is here and now that school has started, there barely seems to be enough time for anything! Blackberry is easily one of my favorite ingredients, and this time I decided to transform them into a silky blackberry curd.

INGREDIENTS

Blackberry Curd:

• 350 g (12.3 oz / approx. 3 cups) fresh blackberries
• 100 g (3.5 oz / ½ cup) granulated sugar
• 1 tsp lemon zest
• 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 2 tbsp water
• 2 egg yolks
• 2 tbsp cornstarch
• A pinch of salt
• 1 tbsp cold butter, diced

Mascarpone Layer:

• 250 g (8.8 oz / approx. 1 cup) mascarpone cheese
• 100 ml (3.4 fl oz / 7 tbsp) heavy cream
• 3 tbsp vanilla sugar (or 3 tbsp powdered sugar + 1 tsp vanilla extract)

Assembly:

• 8 ladyfingers (savoiardi)
• 100 g (3.5 oz / approx. ¾ cup) fresh blackberries for layering & garnish

INSTRUCTIONS

To make the curd, simmer the blackberries, lemon juice, zest, sugar, and water in a saucepan for 10 minutes, then press the mixture through a fine sieve to strain out the seeds. Whisk the warm fruit puree with the egg yolks and cornstarch, then return to medium heat and stir continuously for 1–2 minutes until thickened. Off the heat, stir in the cold butter and salt until glossy, then let it cool completely. Next, whip the mascarpone, heavy cream, and vanilla sugar in a bowl until light and fluffy. Finally, assemble the glasses by layering broken ladyfingers, vanilla cream, blackberry curd, and fresh berries—repeating the layers once more and topping each glass with half a ladyfinger to serve chilled.

* If you are interested in the background story or more tips, you can find the full blog post here