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Picadillo Cuban Style my way (Paleo, Gluten-Free, Soy-Free, Nut-Free)


Picadillo Cuban Style my way (Paleo, Gluten-Free, Soy-Free, Nut-Free).jpg
Picadillo Cuban Style my way (Paleo, Gluten-Free, Soy-Free, Nut-Free) 


For your knowledge, Cuban Style Picadillo is ground beef made the way Cubans like it well seasoned with tomato sauce, fat, garlic cloves, onion, sweet bell pepper, or another kind of it, paprika, species, in some cases a little hot pepper, or with anything that appears, so if we have olives, raisins, onion, garlic we incorporate to it, if not, we figure out what to put into it, this is the culture of humble people, you do anything with what you have on hands, if not have all of them, you are going to do food anyway because you have to eat. This is hard for all the persons who are living there, including family and friends, but what I learned from this is that you have to be prepared for anything, so if you are having good times, enjoy them wisely, but if you are having bad times, you need to be smart enough to go back to the reality, facing the day to day with the head held high.

Just as we change other things during life, whether studying, developing, learning from our own mistakes and from others I have a passion to improvise with food, I don´t like to repeat the same thing every day, I do love to be in constant discovery of the savors and textures.  I don´t know (unless there is too much evidence in one recipe that repeats itself over and over again)  if this recipe is somewhere, I do anything that inspires me.

I explained above there is a common plate of ground meat that is made with raisins and green olives, that I have been doing for a long time, but yesterday I ran out the raisins and olives, I could do a slice of easy ground meat, but no, I love to complicate myself a little more, as usual.  I looked around the kitchen to see what the things I had instead? and I found dates and cappers, mmm I´ll do it with them!

Certainly, I love this dish! 😋 It´s salty, bittersweet, and with a special flavor. I have the habit to spice it and put salt and pepper on any meat first, but here I could not put any salt on it because the capers are very salty, so I tasted them at the end and then add it.  I really have a hard time making recipes for measurements, except that the first time I do not know how it is done, then, I can vary it to my liking, I remove something and add another, or decrease one flour and put another, etc. so please, be patient with me, I am doing my best for you.

The dates have good nutritional values as antioxidants properties, high in carbohydrates and calories, fiber, and vitamins A, B1, B3, B5, C, D, K,  minerals potassium, calcium, iron, zinc, magnesium, selenium, copper, magnesium, and protein. 

These fruits have health benefits as:  good as a natural sweetener, help relieve constipation, prevent bones degeneration and osteoporosis, decrease the bad cholesterol, they have a low glycemic index, and promote brain health, that´s why is too important to add them in our diet. 

The capers have a vibrant, strong tangy-lemony flavor, and you can use them for garnish, salads, meats, soups, sauces, seasoning, or anything else, but besides the culinary uses, they are packed with nutritional values to consider,  are very low in calories, provide energy, have antioxidants, protein, fiber, vitamins A, E, K, B2, B3, C, minerals as potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, copper, iron, sodium, a large number of phytonutrients, and flavonoids (quercetin and rutin) as well.

Said that we can see that they have a bunch of health benefits: can relieve rheumatic pain, lower flatulencies, and stomachaches, decrease LDL (bad cholesterol), mitigate chest congestion of phlegm and mucus, increase bones density, an antihistaminic effect, boost immunity, can prevent cancer, appetite stimulant, treat skin disorders and moisturize it, anti-wrinkles, enhance vision, cure anemia, among others, spectacular right? nobody would imagine that being so small can have so much concentration of nutrients.  

Let´s do it with 💓 

PICADILLO CUBAN STYLE MY WAY (Paleo, Gluten-Free, Soy-Free, Nut-Free) 

Picadillo Cuban Style my way (Paleo, Gluten-Free, Soy-Free, Nut-Free).jpg

Preparation Time: 5 min
Cooking Time: 20-25 min
Total Time:  30 min
The recipe is based on 6 servings.



Ingredients:
  1. 2 pounds ground beef (preferably grass-fed)
  2. 3 bay leaves
  3. 1 1/2- 2 cups organic tomato marinate sauce
  4. 1 tablespoons oregano
  5. 1/2 teaspoon cumin
  6. 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
  7. 1/4 teaspoon  cinnamon
  8. 1 teaspoon paprika
  9. 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
  10. 1/2 cup of white or red wine
  11. 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
  12. 1 large sliced or chopped bell pepper any color works, divided in half
  13. 1 big onion sliced  divided in half
  14. 4-5 large garlic cloves minced
  15. 1/4 cup coconut oil, avocado oil
  16. 1 cup of dates, pitted and chopped
  17. 4 full tablespoons capers
  18. 3 celery stalks chopped
  19. salt and black pepper to taste
  20. 1/4 cup coconut oil or avocado oil
  21. salt and black pepper to taste
Instructions:

In a large skillet or a pot, at medium-high temperature, drop the oil and fry the ground beef with, oregano, cumin, cinnamon, paprika, and bay leaves constantly stirring it until the meat starts to caramelize.

Deglaze the ground meat with wine.

Put half of the sliced onion and all the minced garlic cloves, stir.

Throw the tomato marinate sauce,  and lemon juice, stir.

Let it simmer for about 5 minutes to integrate the savors, then add the other part of the sliced onion and all bell pepper, capers, chopped dates, and celery. Cook between 5-10 minutes, depends on your liking, drier or with more sauce.

A final step is to rectify the salt and pepper.

Enjoy with any salad, rice, quinoa. paleo tortillas, pasta, on a pizza, in a pie, etc.

Notes: I like to fry first the ground meat, you can skip this and cook it all together.

I love to let a reserved part of the sliced onion. celery and bell pepper until the end because they are softened but they are still crunchy, for me, this is important because it creates a combination of different textures, but you can put them all from the beginning.

Remember, "Your body is a temple, but only if you treat it as one". Astrid Alauda.  
If you like it, you can share it with your friends. It will be kindly appreciated by me. Thank you! 💗

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