Review: Picadillo, May 2002

[Kismet]

I made the Picadillo from the May '02 issue last night. It got a 9/10 from DH, so I call that a sucess! :) I served it with brown rice, corn on the cob, and salad. A great meal!

[Terrytx]

Your whole menu sounds great. I will have the same next week, if you don't mind me stealing your ideas.

[ccooney]

I made the Piccadillo this week, too! It came out great. I used ground turkey breast only to cut down on fat. I also added some Sherry Pepper Sauce that I got in Bermuda and a pinch of cinnamon. It was fantastic. I found that it was better the first night than for leftovers - I think mostly because the turkey breast dries out more when reheated.

[goldilocks]

I wonder how this compares to the other Picadillo recipe published a while back. Anyone?

[Kismet]

Unfortunately, I never made the earlier version, so I can't comment on that.

Terry - I would be most flattered if you used my menu! :D

[cjm]

I've made the earlier version many, many times and just love it! I must confess that I haven't had time to look at May 2002...now I will make the time...I'm anxious to compare these two.

Thanks for the "heads-up".

cjm

[doggerham]

On Wednesday, I had the ubiquitous pound of ground beef sitting in the fridge, and I thought of the picadillo recipe in this month's issue. I figured I'd look around on the board to see what people were saying -- what I found were tons of great reviews for the Healthy Picadillo from October 2000. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the recipe anywhere, and didn't want to go home to read it before I went to the store.

So, based on what I read, I bought what I thought I would need for the Healthy Picadillo. I looked at the magazine at the checkout stand for this month's version, and it seemed simpler, but a little blander than the earlier one.

Long story short, I made it, served it over rice and we really liked it. I've got some leftovers here to heat up for lunch, but I'm wishing I had a tortilla to go with it...(no rice).

Amy

PS One suggestion, use either capers OR olives -- both is pretty strong!

[Vanessa]

Hi everyone

Just an idea you can use the picadillo to stuff bell peppers or use as "filling" in a potato pie. You can also use as a side dish when having turkey instead of the usual bread stuffing...

[ElinorC]

Your ideas sound great Vanessa. Thanks.

[Larry Roffee]

We tried it last weekend and would give it an 8. I used chicken broth instead of beef, and it seemed to be lighter. Lighter would also be my comparison to the earlier recipe which used beef. I cooked up a big pot of red beans to go with the rice. It was Cuban night at our house. Since it was on my mind, I will cook it again tomorrow for 10 people. It seems like an easy recipe to do for company. I think I am going to top it with some thinly sliced and roasted crisp plantains for some crunch on top.

[Beth H]

I liked this recipe as well -- made it with ground beef since that's what was thawed in the fridge. I also omitted the raisins since I don't like them -- so I guess part of the intended flavor was missing. I still thought this was an easy, tasty weeknight supper. Definitely a repeater. I served over white rice with a salad.

[Peggy]

We had this for dinner tonight, and I agree that it was a good weeknight dinner. Very easy to make and quite satisfying. I used lean ground beef because I couldn't find "lean" ground turkey. The turkey I found had more fat in it than the lean ground beef.:confused:

Peggy

[MelissaAS]

I think this was my first Cuban experience and I loved it with both olives and capers. Did skip the raisins though (not a fan). Great quick dinner! Repeater- 8/10.

[Gail]

Of course there are quite a few variations on picadillo, but I think it is missing part of the sweet and savory flavor when the raisins are left out. Rather than leaving them out, may I suggest maybe cutting back on them? They don't taste like obvious raisins in the finished dish, rather something you sort of puzzle over as you're taking a bite.

Though I haven't tried this particular recipe, in addition to the ubiquitous ground beef and turkey, you can also make good picadillo with ground chicken (which I personally prefer to ground turkey.) And, for a little extra oomph you could do what our family sometimes does, adding a bit of chopped up yellow pickled wax peppers (we don't use capers in ours, though I like capers.)

[Varaile]

I made this the other night...it was different, but tasty! I used ground venison, drained it well after frying, and made the recipe as written. Except I did cut back on the olives as DH doesn't like green olives. Served it with asparagus spears and plain white rice.

The only negative thing about this recipe for me was the lack of zing. I felt it really could have used some additional spices for some extra kick. I have noticed some of the other Picadillo recipes call for cumin or chili powder so I may have to try a few other recipes out.