Cuban Inspired Picadillo
a delicious, sweet and savory, cuban-inspired picadillo
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp olive oil divided
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1 onion, small chopped small
- 5 shishito peppers or 1/2 bell pepper chopped small
- 1 pound grass fed ground beef
- 2 tbsp kalamata olives chopped, can use green too
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries can use raisins
- 1 tbsp capers + 1 tbsp caper juice
- 1 can diced tomatoes with chiles 10 oz can
- 1 tbsp sazon seasoning* see notes
- 1 tbsp cumin
- 1.5 tsp salt
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 - 2 cups water
Instructions
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Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a skillet (cast iron preferably) over medium heat; cook and stir garlic, onion, and green bell pepper in the hot oil until softened, 5-10 minutes. Add ground beef into the skillet; cook and stir until browned completely. Stir olives, cranberries, capers, caper juice, tomatoes, sazon seasoning*, cumin, sugar, and salt through the ground beef mixture. Add 1 to 1.5 cups water (or more if very dry)
-
educe heat to low, and cook uncovered until water has reduced and mixture has thickened, about 10-20 minutes (the longer the better for more flavor). Add remaining olive oil and stir. Serve over basmati rice with and topped with **quick pickled onions and ***cilantro lime dressing.
Recipe Notes
If doubling the recipe, use an extra tsp sugar
Do not omit the olive oil at the end. This helps bring a rice flavor to the recipe.
If using sazon seasoning packets instead of homemade, you may need to use less salt as the packets sometimes contain salt too.
*Homemade Sazon seasoning:
1 tbsp ground coriander
1 tbsp ground cumin
1/2 tbsp turmeric
1/2 tbsp chipotle powder
1 tbsp garlic powder
2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp onion powder
Traditional sazon seasoning calls for annatto, but I find this ingredient hard to find, so I chose to use a mixture of turmeric and chipotle powder to mimic the flavor. Feel free to sub for annatto instead.
**Homemade quick pickled onions
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1/2 cup apple cider or white vinegar
1 small onion, thinly sliced
Mix all ingredients together and let sit for 20 min - 1 hour before eating, shaking container occasionally to mix everything up.
***Cilantro lime dressing
1/4 cup water
¼ cup cilantro, chopped
Juice from 1 lime
1 tbsp honey
2 tbsp olive oil
Mix together well and serve.