Beef Cuban Picadillo

 Beef Cuban Picadillo with Fresh French Fries

        Chris Kimball's Milk Street Magazine is one of my favorite food magazines.  Similar to his Cooks Illustrated which I enjoyed in the past, there are a lot of interesting stories and food history as well as great illustrations and photographs. 

        If you sign up for the newsletter, you can also get occasional free recipes emailed to you.  If you have a subscription you can access all of the recipes on line.  A few days ago, this one was in my inbox.  I had what we needed, well mostly, and I was intrigued by his suggestion to serve it over french fries.

        Picadillo traditionally has raisins and green olives in it that add a salty sweet tang to the sauce for a refreshing different taste.  I made most of the sauce without them and made a separate meatless sauce with the olives and raisins.  I also made a healthier version for my wife as lettuce wraps, although I think she still had a few fries that I made in our new microwave air-fryer combo.  The main modifications I made were I used Kalamata olives instead of the green olives as that was all I had.  Also I used some canned whole tomatoes instead of fresh, and finally I used more tomato paste than called for (because, really what am I going to do with the rest of the can of paste other than put it the refrigerator and throw it away when it is black and dried up!) and I added a little extra water,.

Now, Get in the kitchen and cook something!

Cuban Beef Picadillo

        2 T Olive Oil

        1 Large Onion, diced

        6 Cloves Garlic, minced

        1 1/2 lb. Lean Ground Beef

        1/2 c Raisins

        1 T Cuman Seed

        1 t Oregano

        3 T Tomato Paste

        1/2 c Green Olives with Pimentos, chopped

        3 T Olive Brine

        1/2 c Cilantro, chopped

        3 Roma Tomatoes, chopped

        Salt and Pepper TT

1. Heat oil in a large skillet.
2. Add onion and sauté until it starts to brown
3. Add garlic and sauté 1 minutes
4. Add beef and cook until it is brown, use the spoon  to break it into smaller pieces.
5. Stir in raisins, cumin, oregano and tomato paste.
6. Stir in the olives, cilantro and tomatoes.
7. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
8. Serve with fries, as lettuce wraps, over rice or mashed potatoes, or a add a little broth and eat it as a soup with some fresh bread!

Air Fryer French Fries

        3 Large Russet Potatoes

        3 T Vegetable Oil

        Sea Salt to taste

1. Cut potatoes into and fries and then put them in some cold water to rinse off the starch that will turn them brown
2. Drain the fries and pat them dry, then toss them with the olive oil
3. Place the fries in the air-fryer basket and season with some salt.
4. Cook in the air-fryer per the instructions of your fryer.  I have a microwave, broiler airfryer combo and it took about 30 minutes to get crisp fries, I tossed them every 10 minutes or so to help them cook evenly.
5. Alternately you could bake the fries in a 450͑ for 20 to 30 minutes.