« Not My Mama's Picadillo »
The weather is cool. It is a perfect time to consider picadillo. My family makes this dish as a soup. I suppose my grandma may have made it the conventional way (which is similar to a hash) at one time but she did have five kids to feed. It makes sense to stretch the dish out this way. Every time I make this soup, I think of my mom. She loves it. Maybe not my version so much. She says, there isn’t enough tomato. As with all things, change is inevitable.
Picadillo is ground meat and tomatoes. From a glance at some recipes, those two things seem to be pretty certain. I didn’t however find it as a soup any where.
What I do is this: peel potatoes, chop them into cubes, pour water over them by three inches, add diced tomatoes and boil until they are tender. Only then do I add salt.
Next, I cook ground turkey or chicken with cumin, chopped onion, minced garlic, minced chiles of choice, chopped cilantro. I add the finished product to the soup. Stir. Let it cook together for maybe ten minutes.
Last, heat a tortilla, rub a little lemon and salt on it, roll it up and dunk it into this marvelous bowl of picadillo.
And if more tomato feels necessary, a can of tomato sauce never hurts. P.S. Don’t forget to call your mom.
Monica
Reader Comments (2)
Glad your blog is up and running again :)