Picadillo (Cuban style ground beef)

Picadillo a Spanish word that translates to "hash" in English is a super simple meal that gets served quite a bit around our house.  Why?  1- it's easy, I always have the ingredients in the pantry and freezer 2- everyone eats it, yes even the little kids and 3- it's delicious!

I use 2 pounds of ground beef and that serves the 5 of us for dinner and lunch the next day.  This recipe easily scales up or down.

Ingredients-
2 pounds ground beef (ours is 90/10, but whatever you have will work since we will drain the fat off)
Olive oil
3 cloves of garlic - or 2 heaping tsp minced
1 large onion
1 15oz can tomato sauce
10 - 20 green olives and 2 tbsp brine - or 2 tbsp vinegar
1-2 Tbsp cumin
1 tbsp dried oregano
Salt and pepper

Add 1 Tbsp olive oil, ground beef and chopped onion to a large skillet

Brown over medium heat.  Once meat and onions are mostly cooked (hardly any pink left) drain the fat out.  This can be done by dumping everything into a colander but I don't like to wash more than I need to so I scoot all the meat to one side of the pan and hold it there with my spoon while pouring the fat in the sink.

Now add the garlic, cumin, oregano, salt and pepper.

Cook for 2 minutes.
Add tomato sauce, olives and olive brine or vinegar.
Stir to combine.

Once everything is heated through you can serve as is or turn the heat down to low and serve when needed.  If the sauce gets too thick just add a bit of water.

Add ins -
Peppers are good in this as well.  Just add in with the onions.
I often hide carrots in here too (just don't tell the my husband).  I chop them fine and add with the onions.

Left overs make good taco or burrito fillings.  I add in a bit of taco seasoning when reheating.

Enjoy!