So Many Dishes

One of the best things about moving to South Florida was being introduced to Cuban cuisine. Our original Florida home was Homestead, south of Miami, and we were only here a few weeks when one of Ken’s colleagues took us to a restaurant on Calle Ocho in Miami.

Calle Ocho is the heart of Little Havana, but there are great Cuban restaurants throughout Miami-Dade and the entire South Florida area. They aren’t as numerous here in Palm Beach County, but they’re still good. I mentioned a visit to our local favorite, Don Ramon’s, in a January post.

I’ve found a number of Cuban dishes that I love to cook at home, too. Unless you’re undertaking something like do a pig roast in the back yard, something some Cuban-American friends of ours have done, Cuban cooking is pretty easy, and the results are delicious.

Picadillo is, to my mind, Cuban comfort food. There are versions of picadillo, which probably is derived from the Spanish verb meaning “to mince,” throughout Latin America. I don’t know that I’ve tried any versions other than the Cuban one. And there’s still plenty of variation. I suspect that there are as many recipes as there are Cuban cooks. Some include raisins, some red wine. But the basics remain the same: ground beef, a sofrito of bell pepper, onion, and garlic, tomato sauce, and olives.

My Picadillo is based on the recipe I found in one of my favorite community cookbooks, Seasons in the Sun. This collection was assembled by the Beaux Arts Society, a group that supports the Lowe Art Museum on the University of Miami campus. I’ve lost the cover and title page of this old spiral-bound book; I’d guess that it was put together in the early to middle 1970s. I was a grad student at UM in 1977-78, and bought the cookbook at the bookstore there.

There is absolutely no question, when we put this dish on the menu, what we will serve with it. Picadillo requires black beans and rice. You can’t have a meal of Cuban comfort food without them. Come to think of it, I’m not sure you can have any Cuban meal without beans and rice. I generally start with canned black beans and “doctor” them. For just the two of us, it’s easiest.

Picadillo

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 bell pepper, chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 1 8-oz. can tomato sauce
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon celery seeds
• 3/4 cup pimento-stuffed green olives (manzanilla olives)
• 3 tablespoons liquid from olive jar

Heat oil in a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the bell pepper, onion, and garlic. Sauté until the onion is soft and clear. Remove vegetables from the pan and set aside.

Add ground beef to the pan, breaking up lumps, and brown. When browned, return the vegetables to the pan, along with all remaining ingredients. Stir well, bring to a simmer. Cover the pan and let simmer for 30 minutes. Serve over rice. Serves 4.

Cuban food generally is not spicy. Ken and I like to add just a bit of hot sauce at the table. I am shamelessly shilling my favorite, the Fat Cat hot sauces made here in Florida. We finished off the bottle of Everyday Green sauce, a jalapeño sauce, last evening. So when we ate the leftovers tonight, I opened a bottle of their Florida sauce, a citrus-datil pepper sauce that I love. I think these sauces may be available on Amazon, but I order directly from the company. I love supporting small businesses, especially if it’s kinda, sorta local 😄

Happy eating!