Cuban Picadillo

                              

I started making a version of this when a friend sent me a recipe that was shared with her by a Cuban American coworker. My very busy friend loved that it was quick enough to make on a weeknight after work but was still interesting and flavorful. I have added a few things to the original recipe. I’d like to think that I’ve made the flavors a little more complex without increasing the cost or workload too much.        

       

Here’s the frugal part:

This recipe relies on ubiquitous and inexpensive produce, pantry staples, spice rack basics, and ground meat. Oh, and an avocado, which you can splurge on if necessary because the other stuff is so cheap. If avocados are in season, even better. Here’s a rough cost breakdown and rationale:

I always have onions and garlic in the house. I picked up a ten pound bag of potatoes for $1.29. Green peppers are never terribly expensive, and this huge one cost me 35 cents. I also try to keep limes in the house because they are nice to have to cut the richness in a lot of the Latin dishes we love, plus they are always useful for cocktails! I picked up three for $.50 (looking forward to summer when they are 12-15 for a dollar).

Then we have a can of black beans, a can of fire roasted diced tomatoes, a can of tomato sauce, a cup of rice, a half cup of raisins, canola oil, and a small jar of olives. I stock up on all of this stuff when it is really cheap, like the tomatoes which recently cost me 30-40 cents a can. These little jars of olives are often on sale for a dollar and there are even coupons sometimes.

I buy my spices almost exclusively at Penzey’s. On average, I replenish one or two things and spend $5-$10 each time I stop in every month or two. I usually walk out with a bonus each time as well because their mailed catalog usually has a coupon for a free item! The cinnamon pictured above was actually the most recent freebie. Overall, I am paying very little to maintain a library of top quality spices, so the cost for each meal’s requirement is negligible. Here, I’m using ground cinnamon, ground cumin, and oregano.

Meat is always the most expensive component of a meal, so I really try to buy what is on sale and either freeze it or let it guide my menu. This time I reached in to my freezer for some 90% lean ground beef I found on clearance for about $2.00/lb and a half pound of ground pork I got for $.74/lb after clearance pricing paired with a $1.00/fresh pork that was available last month. 

I try to pay 75 cents or less for a good-sized avocado, but the enormous one pictured cost me a buck.

So with my various approaches to saving a little here and a little there, this meal probably cost me about $7.00. And with another can of beans, a bit more rice, and an avocado, it will be another full meal (and it does reheat nicely). That would make it around $4.50 per meal or $1.50 per person. But honestly, it would still be relatively inexpensive if you just walked into your grocery store and picked up everything necessary for it.        

 Here’s the home made part:

Do a little prep now and this will all go very smoothly:

• Peel and dice a large potato.
• Seed and chop a green pepper.
• Chop a yellow onion.
• Mince six cloves of garlic.

Now, heat three tablespoons of canola or vegetable oil in a large skillet or dutch oven over medium high heat.

Fry the potato cubes until they are nice and golden brown, then reduce the heat to medium and remove them and set aside. Don’t worry about the potatoes staying crispy. You should have about 2 tablespoons of oil left in the pan. If that is not the case, add some or remove some to make it about that much.

Add the pepper, onion, a tablespoon of ground cumin, a tablespoon of dry oregano, and 1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon and saute until the vegetables are soft and starting to brown a bit, about 7 minutes. Add the garlic and stir until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

        

  Add the meat, season with 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste, and cook until browned. This is also the point I started my rice, which was ordinary long grain that needed to simmer 20 minutes and sit for 5.

       

Add the tomatoes (with juice), tomato sauce, 3 bay leaves, reserved potatoes, and 1/2 cup raisins. Mix well and simmer on low heat for about 15 minutes.

At this point, you’ll have a bit of time to slice the 5 oz jar of pimiento-stuffed olives and juice two limes.

Incorporate the lime juice and sliced olives into the mixture and remove from heat. Heat a can of black beans or just mix them with your hot rice.

Slice your avocado. Put a serving of beans and rice on each plate, then meat mixture, and top with avocado slices.

Or, place it all separately on a plate for your child who doesn’t want her foods touching.