Miriam's Picadillo

Friendship has no age. What do I mean? My best friend is my mother, who is obviously older than I am, and I have another very close friend, Miriam, who is my mom's age. I met Miriam while working at buybuyBaby. We became really close, sharing each others drama when we had down time at work plus I got to practice my Spanish with her. Eventually I quit but our friendship extended outside of walls of work. We would text, call and I have even gone over to her house to just gossip and share stories. She is an aquarius like me - making us very similar! So one day I asked her to share her picadillo recipe. Picadillo is a ground beef hash, to sum it up, poor people food that is absolutely delicious and easy to make. Since I learned the Cuban version of picadillo recipe from my mom, I wanted to learn Miriam's version of picadillo, and she is Venezuelan. Her recipe is different from what I'm used to making but it is much simpler and I have to say just as delicious. When she made it for me one Friday afternoon the flavor stayed

Miriam's Picadillo - this is the
one she made, served with
black beans & white rice

on my palette the whole weekend! The following Monday I decided to make it for myself. It is now one of my favorite dishes as well as a new "go to" recipe when I don't feel like thinking too much about dinner or  I am just too tired. This recipe takes a browning sauce, and bouillon powder, which I had nver used before. I have provided a picture in case you've never used it either and now you know what to look for. You can serve this like in the picture further below, with black beans and rice. You could also accompany it with bread or sweet plantains. I absolutely love this recipe and hope you do too!


Recipe:
1 3/4 lbs ground beef
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, minced
1 red or green pepper, minced
2 tablespoons green olives
2 tablespoons raisins (optional)
1/2 teaspoon chicken bouillon powder
1 1/2 tablespoon kitchen bouquet browning
and seasoning sauce

1. In a skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat and add the ground beef. Brown the meat until pink is gone. Add the minced onions and peppers. Cook together for about 5 minutes or until onions are translucent.

2. Add the green olives. It is okay if some of the juice from the olives fall into the beef because it will add more flavor to the dish; add in the raisins. Stir to combine and cook together for about 2 minutes.

3. Sprinkle in the chicken bouillon powder and stir to combine. Drizzle in the browning sauce and stir to combine. Cook all the ingredients together for about 4 minutes until aromatic. Remove the pan off the heat and it is ready to serve.