Cuban Picadillo

About This Recipe

Cuban picadillo is one of the most versatile and comforting dishes in Latin American cooking: ground beef cooked with a fragrant sofrito of garlic, onion, cumin and tomato, then enriched with olives, capers and raisins that give the dish its characteristic sweet-salty-briny complexity. The unusual combination of raisins and olives with savoury beef reflects the Moorish influences on Spanish cuisine, which were carried to Cuba during the colonial period. Picadillo is eaten over white rice, used as filling for empanadas and pastelitos, or served as a simple weeknight dinner with plantain. It is one of the most economical and satisfying dishes in Cuban cuisine — a complete meal built from humble ingredients.

Ingredients

Serves 4

• 600 gbeef mince
• 1 largeonion(diced)
• 4 clovesgarlic(minced)
• 1 largegreen bell pepper(diced)
• 400 g tinchopped tomatoes
• 2 tablespoonstomato paste
• 1 teaspoonground cumin
• 1 teaspoondried oregano
• 50 graisins
• 50 ggreen olives(pitted and halved)
• 2 tablespoonscapers
• 3 tablespoonsolive oil
• 1 teaspoonsalt
• 0.5 teaspoonsugar

Instructions

1. 1

   Brown the beef

   Brown beef mince in a little oil over high heat, breaking it up. Once browned, drain excess fat.

2. 2

   Build the sofrito

   In the same pan, fry onion, garlic and green pepper for 5 minutes. Add tomato paste and cook 2 minutes. Return beef to the pan.

3. 3

   Add tomatoes and seasonings

   Add tinned tomatoes, cumin, oregano, salt and sugar. Simmer for 15 minutes.

4. 4

   Add olives, raisins and capers

   Stir in raisins, olives and capers. Cook for 5 more minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning — it should be sweet, salty and slightly tart all at once. Serve over white rice.

Variations

• •

  Add diced potato and egg (hardboiled) to make it more substantial.

• •

  Puerto Rican picadillo uses annatto oil and slightly different spicing.

Storage

Refrigerate for up to 5 days. Freezes well for up to 3 months.

Frequently Asked Questions