The Classic Cuban Picadillo

Everyone has been waiting for me to crack open the family safe and publish some of my grandmother's recipes. The problem is that they are too complicated for this day and age and people just don't have the time to cook like that. Recipes nowadays have been simplified and shortened and, in most cases, they taste just as good.

After Castro came to power, our family was separated for a while. My parents came first with us and it wasn't until almost 12 years later that my grandparents, on my mother's side, were able to get out. Throughout all those years, my grandmother mailed out, little by little, all her recipes. They were meticulously handwritten by her. That is how much pride she took in them. As they arrived in this country, we would read them and giggle at the thought of ... " Three days before you kill the chicken, you feed it bread soaked in milk and brandy...!" She never travelled, yet she had recipes from all over the world, and loved American food. When my mother was growing up, she remembers coming home to a house full of the smell of cinnamon rolls. Cinnamon rolls in Cuba in those days were like eating Beluga caviar now in this country. Not a one to be found. What I remember the most, though, was the ice cream machine and the dry ice for mantecado, the Cuban vanilla ice cream. Life in that house revolved around food and canasta parties and boy do I miss her. All her recipes are still kept and cherished by her three daughters and all her granddaughters, including me.

Her recipes are complicated, but as far as the everyday Cuban classics like Picadillo, not a chance. You see, Picadillo is a simple and common dish eaten traditionally at lunch, preferably with white rice, a fried egg and fried bananas, either maduros or tostones. This new thing of having it for dinner all dressed up in heaven knows what is an insult to a wonderful dish. I have seen everything from cinnamon to chili powder added to it. As I always tell my daughter, "don't guild the lily!"

In memory of a wonderful cook and to please some of the audience, here is the first of what, I hope, will be many Cuban recipes...good, simple and authentic.

Serves 6-8 (depending if they are Cuban or American!)

Cooking time: 60 minutes

Ingredients

3 TB olive oil

3-4 garlic cloves, mashed

1 large onion, chopped (about 2 cups)

1 green pepper, chopped

1 bay leaf

2 lb ground meat, preferably chuck (80-20)

3 oz. tomato paste

1/2 cup dry white Vermouth or dry white wine

1/2 C water

1 tsp.Worcestershire Sauce

1 cup pimiento stuffed olives

1/2 cup of raisins

Salt and pepper to taste

In a large skillet and in medium heat, sautee the garlic, onion, green pepper and bay leaf in the olive oil for about 15- 20 minutes. Add and brown the meat. Turn heat down to medium low. Add the tomato paste, the wine and the water. Bring to a slight boil, and reduce temperature again to a simmer. Cover and cook for about 30 minute. If the liquid is absorbed, add more water 1/4 Cup at a time. While it simmers, cut the pimiento stuffed olives in half. After the 30 minutes are up, remove the lid, add the olives (I add some of the olive brine) and the raisins and cook, uncovered, in a slow simmer for another 15 minutes. Adjust the seasonings. I like my picadillo runny. Here again, everybody is different. If you like it dry, control the water you add to the tomato paste. Serve over fluffy, white rice.

Cook's Note

If you really want to be Cuban, fry an egg or two, lay it over the white rice, and put the picadillo on the side. My favorites with this dish are fried ripe bananas, a beer and a siesta.

Leftovers can be frozen or saved to make what my family calls Pigs in a Blanket coming up next on the blog.