Cubano Picadillo

I love Cuban food and two of our favorite restaurants when we lived in Tampa, FL was the Columbia Restaurant in Ybor City. For the life of me, I cannot remember the name of the other one. I do remember the bread though. It was a dark bread that was not too dense, had an incredible flavor and perfect crust surrounding a soft warm interior. They brought this bread to the table almost as soon as you sat down. I think we went to this place about 6 or 7 times during the couple of years we lived in Tampa. Our dearest friends, Bob and Cecy Zaffuto went with us a number of times and I remember being introduced to Picadillo at this place. It was awesome! Combined with the bread, I couldn’t stop eating it. The only thing that did stop me was the fact that my plate was empty.

Although we lived in Tampa only a short time, I met two of my best friends living there, Dan Trammell and Bob Zaffuto. We worked together, played together, drank together, and ate together often. You can’t break bread with people that often and not come to cherish and love them. I miss both Bob and Dan, but I have this dish to help me remember them now.

Thanks to a more recent, and very dear friend, Ashley Cooper-Heath, I was reminded of this recipe when she responded to my post on Palomilla Steak. She asked me to put up a recipe for Picadillo. I honestly had forgotten that I ever had this until Ashley asked for the recipe. We didn’t experience a lot of Cuban cuisine once we moved away from Tampa. That was back in 1980 and 1981. In any case, THANK YOU Ashley Cooper-Heath for reminding me of this incredible Cuban dish.

This recipe will serve 4 and you can easily stretch it to 6, with some side dishes. There are lots of variations, but this is my favorite and the one I remember having for the first time in Tampa.

Pre time: 25 minutes. – Cook time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

Making the Magic

Start your rice cooking while you prepare the rest of this recipe. Making 2 cups of rice will serve 6 people. We use an Instapot to cook rice all the time. It’s so easy and always gets it right.

Once you have or while you are prepping your onion, bell pepper and garlic, preheat about 2T of Extra Light Olive Oil in a large pan. When the oil starts to swirl in the pan, add the onions and bell pepper, then the garlic, mincing it into the pan. If you mince the garlic and let it sit, it will develop a much stronger flavor. Stir the bell pepper, onion, and garlic in the oil, cooking it over medium heat for about 5 minutes, or until the veggies are softened. The garlic will start to bloom in the hot oil, combining with the onions and bell pepper. Salt to taste.

Push the veggies to the edge of the pan and crumble the Ground Beef into the center of the pan. As the Ground Beef starts to brown, stir and mix it together with the veggies. Cook thoroughly, about 7 to 10 minutes. Salt to taste.

Now you have your base prepared, it’s time to create the magic in the pan.

Stir in the olives and raisins, mix thoroughly. Now add the capers and the tomato sauce, mix thoroughly. Finally, blend in the cumin, sugar and Sazon Seasoning, salt to taste. Blend and stir thoroughly. Ummm, smell the cumin come alive in the pan! The Sazon and the raisins, enhance the flavors and increase the intensity of the spices because of the contrasts.

Cover and let simmer on medium low for about 5 minutes. You want this to reduce slightly to intensify all the flavors.

When this is almost complete, plate the rice so that it makes a bed for the Picadillo.

Now, spoon a portion of the Cubano Picadillo over the bed of rice and prepare yourself for a meal you won’t want to stop eating!

Cuban food is a cultural mixture of Spanish, African and Caribbean cuisines. It’s an amazing blend of flavors and styles of cooking that takes simple ingredients to create gastronomic delights! You have to try this, at least once. But I’ll bet you keep coming back for more.

Variations To Keep This New

Try adding some Black Beans on the side, seasoned with bacon. Brussel sprouts, coated with olive oil and baked in the oven are also a great side to this dish. Substitute the raisins with sweet corn.

Wines We Love With This

A chilled Sangria works great with this dish.

Pinot Grigio

Reisling

Leftovers

Simply reheat. Is also awesome as part of a Taco Salad, or in Tacos.

Salud! Buen provecho!

Question

In what Cuban city did Michael Corleone kiss his brother Fredo!