Picadillo

Ok, I know, I know.  Anybody who knows what picadillo is will know that this doesn't look like picadillo.  Picadillo is a Cuban dish with ground beef with tomatoes and lots of spices.  This isn't ground beef, no.  I never buy ready-ground meat because usually the meat they use is just the bits and pieces that's left over and nobody wants.  My mom always goes to the butcher's, picks a cut of meat, and asks the nice butcher to mince it for her.  This is how it works in China and Italy and I assumed the rest of the world.  I went to the butcher's here today and he wouldn't let me do that.  He had that little meat grinder thing right behind him and told me that I could only do that if i wanted 3kg of meat. 

Does it work like that where you're from?  Oh things are just so difficult here food-wise.  And we only have one butcher's in town. 


Well, I wasn't going to let a silly man ruin my day.  So I chose my cut of meat, brought it home, and diced it as small as possible and continued with my picadillo.

I had never had picadillo before, so this isn't very authentic.  I went online, read a bunch of recipes, kind of got the gist of what to do and just did it my own way.  It may not be authentic but it still tastes good in my humble opinion.

 
this is good with rice, tortillas, fried plantains or just on its own
Serves 1 
Ingredients
100g ground meat
1/2 small onion, minced
1 small garlic clove minced
1/2 small red pepper, diced
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp red chili
1/4 tsp cumin
1 tbsp raisins
1 tbsp capers
1/2 tbsp tomato paste

Method
Add oil to a skillet, fry the onion and pepper until softened.
Then add the garlic and all the spices, adding water when necessary.
Add the raisins, capers, tomato paste and ground meat.
Fry until the meat is all browned, then add 2 tbsp of water, reduce the heat and let it simmer for 5-10 minutes
Season and serve