Serves 4-6
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 1 hour, 15 minutes
Total time: 1 hour 30 minutes
INGREDIENTS
· 3 tablespoons olive oil
· 1-2 red peppers, or bell (depending on size) — seeded, ribs removed, finely diced
· 2 Cubanelle peppers— seeded, ribs removed, finely diced
· 2 medium Spanish onions — finely diced
· 7 cloves garlic — smashed and finely minced
· 1 3/4 pounds ground beef, 85% lean (optional: ground chicken or turkey)
· 2 bay leaves
· 1 tablespoon sea salt
· 1/2 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
· 1 tablespoon cumin
· 24 oz. (pureed) tomato sauce. (I use (3) 8-ounce cans of Goya Tomato Sauce “Spanish Style”)
· 1/4 cup Spanish dry red wine
· 1/2 cup raisins
· 1/2 cup alcaparrado (jarred olive salad containing pitted manzanilla olives, capers, pimientos)
Note: If alcparrado is not available, make a 3 part mix of pitted, or pimiento-stuffed manzanilla olives, pimientos and capers to taste.
INSTRUCTIONS
Heat olive oil in a sauté pan over medium heat, and add peppers. As the peppers soften, add onions. Once onions are translucent, add garlic. Keep stirring, moving vegetables, watching not to brown or burn.
Add ground meat to pan.
Keep mixing meat, breaking up any chunks. Keep an eye on the meat. The idea is to under cook it at this point. Drain any unwanted fat rendered from ground meat.
Transfer the contents of the sauté pan to a larger pot.
Add bay leaves, salt, pepper, cumin, tomato sauce , wine, raisins and alcaparrado to meat & vegetable mixture in larger pot.
Mix well. Cover and cook over low medium flame for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. If you find the Picadillo is too thin, remove cover and reduce for 10 minutes.