Picadillo

Course: Entree

Cuisine: cuban, mexican american

Keyword: picadillo, picadillo recipe

Servings: servings

Calories: 320kcal

Picadillo is a flavorful and robust dinner recipe, one of our favorite dinners. Considered peasant food in many countries, this Picadillo recipe is easily customizable to your taste.

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Ingredients

Vegetable Salsa Sauce

4 plum tomatoes or any type of tomatoes (1.5 cups approx)
½ large vidalia onion cut into chunks or rings
1 jalapeno, cut into thirds
3 large cloves fresh garlic
½ TBS olive oil
S&P
⅓ cup water (to be added after roasting when blending)

Picadillo

1 TBS avocado or olive oil
½ vidalia onion chopped
1 pound ground veal
1 large russet potato peeled and cut into small cubes
¾ cup diced or sliced carrots
1 jalapeno sliced or poblano or green pepper for no heat
S&P
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
optional 2 TBS tomato paste, tomato flakes or ⅕ TBS tomato bullion (if using bullion add less salt)
½ cup beef broth
½ a fresh lime

Instructions

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Cut each tomato into chunks and toss onto the sheet.
Cut your onion in half and then cut that half into a few rings, separating them a bit and toss onto the sheet.
Cut your jalapeno into a few pieces and toss onto the sheet.
Smash your garlic cloves slightly and toss onto the baking sheet.
Season vegetables with some salt and black pepper, and drizzle with a ½ TBS olive oil. Toss and bake at 350 for 25 minutes.
Pull from the oven, place into your blender, as well as any juice on the baking sheet. Add in ½ cup of water and pulse till smooth. Set aside.
In a large sauté pan or Dutch oven, add 1 TBS avocado oil and the other half of the onion. Sauté for a couple minutes.
Add in the ground veal and seasonings. Breaking up the veal with the back of a spoon or spatula.
Once veal has almost cooked through, add in potatoes, carrots and jalapenos stirring to incorporate.
Pour in the tomato mixture.
Add in tomato paste (or flake or tomato bullion) if using.
Add in beef broth and stir to incorporate.
Cover with a lid and simmer on low for 20-25 minutes or until potatoes are tender, stirring occasionally. Add additional water or beef broth if needed.
Taste and adjust seasoning.

Notes

Some people simply puree the tomatoes, onion, garlic and jalapeno in a blender (as well as cilantro if using). Isabel Eats does this method in her recipe which is the jumping point I used when I first made this years ago. I prefer seasoning my tomatoes, onion, jalapeno and garlic and roasting them first. I feel like it's more depth in flavor. It's completely up to you, both ways are delicious.

I dehydrate some of my home grown tomato peels in summer, so I have jars of tomato skin flakes. I like to add 2 TBS to this dish for added depth of flavor (you can also add 1-2 TBS tomato paste). There is a product called tomato bullion you can choose to use however you don't need it. I know Knorr is one of the brands who make it. However this step is totally optional, the dish is flavorful enough without it.

Nutrition