PICADILLO FEIGN

Only family gets away with calling you and saying, "Hi Jen, can you cook dinner for me?" Only family can get away with using you so blatantly. But what can I say, use me and abuse me when it comes to cooking. I can never say no. So of course, my brother Mike calls and he only ever wants one thing from me, picadillo.

I learned how to make picadillo from Ginger Lopez, who is an amazing cook. This cuban dish is basically a stew of seasoned chopped meat with lots of olives served over white rice and topped with french fries. Hard to go wrong.

Mike's eyes have always dwarfed his stomach so when we went food shopping he forced me to get 3 lbs of meat. So excessive for 3 people. But my brother Mike is more stubborn then me, so we literally made a gigantic vat of picadillo with enough leftovers for everyone to enjoy for a few days.

Here's the recipe for picadillo from a previous post.

As a side I made corn and tomatillo salsa with red onion, tomato, garlic, cilantro, hot pepper, lemon juice, cayenne, and green peppers.

And we watched the funniest videos I have ever seen, Gino the Ginny. You will die of laughter watching this crazy kid.

PICADILLO - CUBAN SLOPPY JOES

This is an amazing and super easy Cuban dish, my brother Mike always specially requests it. I nicknamed it Cuban Sloppy Joes. It really doesn't look very appetizing but believe me, you will make room for seconds. Its great for big groups of people, because chopped meat is inexpensive. The original recipe that I got from Ginger Lopez calls for Sazon as the seasoning and while its easier and comes out super tasty the MSG gives me a major headache so I figured how to season it without it. Enjoy with white rice and top it with french fries! Thats right, cut up some potatoes and fry away or get some help from Ora Ida.  Also, substitute chopped turkey meat if you like.

Picadillo

1 lb Chopped Meat Sirloin or Chuck (the fattier the tastier)

1/2 Onion Chopped

1/2 Green Pepper Chopped

2 cloves of garlic Chopped

2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp cayenne (to taste)

2 tsp paprika

2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 C green olive with pimentos plus 3 TBSP of the olive juice

2 Bay Leaf (do not skip this!)

1/2 small can of tomato sauce or 3 TBSP tomato paste

Marinate the meat in salt and pepper, some olive oil, the dry spices, Bay Leaf and olives and olive juice. About 20 min is enough but the longer the better. After the meat has marinate, sautee the onions, pepper and garlic. Add the meat and brown. Add the tomato sauce and let it stew for at least 15 minutes. Serve over white rice with french fries on top. Remember to remove the bay leaf.