Picadillo

A little known Mexican dish that is oh so yummy. This is the recipe my paternal grandma taught me. I've found other versions in cookbooks but they have way more ingredients that don't make sense to me (Cooking sherry? Really?). But this is so simple and delicious you don't need any of that mumbo jumbo.



Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 white onion, finely chopped
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- s&p to taste
- 1/4 tsp chile powder


1. Boil the beef, bay leaves and half of the onions.  It'll start to get frothy and foamy from the grease from the beef.  Once the meat is cooked, drain the water.  (note: in these pictures, you can see that I cooked this in a pot, but I recommend a sauce pan if you want to do everything in the same pan.  If you do this step in a pot, I suggest transferring to a sauce pan for the rest).

2. Smash the garlic in the molcajete.  If you don't have one a garlic press will suffice.

3. Add the beef mix,garlic, cumin, salt and pepper into the sauce pan.  Mix.  Add the potatoes.  Spread the potatoes until they are as close to a single layer as possible.  Cook until potatoes are tender.  The thicker the layer, the longer it'll take to cook.  And the more often you'll have to stir to make sure everything has an opportunity to cook on the bottom of the pan.  

4.  Once the potatoes are close to done, add the chile powder.  Mix everything well.  Remove the bay leaves before serving.

To serve, you can do multiple things.  For tonight's dinner, I served them on sopes.  The sopes have beans smashed inside, with the picadillo on top.  Or you can serve them on their own with fresh beans and tortillas.  I've also had picadillo inside chiles rellenos (instead of cheese).  Whatever you choose to do, it will undoubtedly be delicious.

Enjoy!