posted by Marlen 04-18-102 3:45 PM
Picadillo a la Marlen
1 pound lean ground beef, browned*
1/2 medium yellow onion, chopped
1/2 medium green pepper, chopped
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce (not paste)
Olive oil as needed
3 garlic gloves, minced
1 small box raisins
1 small jar pimento stuffed olives
1/4 cup golden cooking wine*
Salt, pepper, oregano to taste
Brown ground beef in a little olive oil in a large frying pan (*season it with a bit of salt, pepper and oregano). Don't over cook it. Just saute until the meat no longer pink. Set aside.
In a bit of olive oil, saute onion, green pepper and garlic until softened. Add tomato sauce, golden cooking wine*, a bit more ground pepper and oregano, and cooked ground beef. Add raisins and olives. Mix well. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer 15 minutes. Uncover, stir and cover again. Simmer for 15 minutes more or until meat is done. Taste and correct seasonings. Serve over white rice.
Notes from Marlen:
*We Cubans use a golden cooking wine called Edmundo. If you can't find it, any white cooking wine will done. I know one should only cook with wine one can drink, but this is a Cuban peasant dish. If you use a good white wine the taste won't be the same - I tried it! In this particular recipe only cooking wine will do. Remember cooking wine is salty so go easy on the salt until you do the taste test.
If you are lucky enough to have any left over picadillo, it makes a great sandwich on French or Cuban bread, or hard rolls. It is also an excellent stuffing for crescent rolls.