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Sweet Sofrito

Puerto Rican Beef Picadillo

Ground beef simmered with sofrito, tomato sauce, olives and capers, with raisins and potatoes if you like.

By Wanda Oyola 50 min Easy

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Recipe in testing: I'm cooking it in my TM7™ and will update the steps and the photo with my own.

Beef picadillo with olives and diced potatoes next to white rice on a plate.

Picadillo is the everyday workhorse of the Puerto Rican kitchen: seasoned ground beef in a light tomato sauce with sofrito, sazón and salty olives. Spoon it over white rice, fold it into empanadillas, layer it in a sweet plantain pastelón or stuff it into peppers. Raisins and diced potatoes are optional, and every family has an opinion about them.

In the Thermomix® TM7™, the sofrito sautés first, then the beef goes in and cooks on reverse, which breaks it into small crumbles without turning it into a paste. The sauce simmers with the simmering basket on the lid instead of the measuring cup, so it thickens while it cooks.

Made in the Thermomix® TM7™

Puerto Rican Beef Picadillo

Makes: About 4 cups

  • Prep15 min
  • Cook35 min
  • Total50 min
  • Serves4

Ingredients

Optional

To serve

Instructions

  1. Place the oil and sofrito in the mixing bowl and sauté 4 min/120°C (250°F)/speed 1.
  2. Add the ground beef in small pieces, pulling it apart with your fingers or the spatula as it goes into the bowl.
  3. Place the simmering basket on the mixing bowl lid instead of the measuring cup and sauté 8 min/120°C (250°F)/reverse/speed 1, so the beef cooks and breaks into crumbles.
  4. Break up any large lumps with the spatula. Add the tomato sauce, alcaparrado, sazón, oregano, cumin, salt and pepper, plus the potatoes, water and raisins if using.
  5. With the simmering basket still on the lid, cook 15 min/100°C (212°F)/reverse/speed soft, or 20 min if you added potatoes.
  6. Check that the potatoes are tender and the sauce has thickened, taste for salt and serve over white rice.

Tips

  • No homemade sofrito? Place 1/2 onion, 1/2 green bell pepper, 3 garlic cloves and a few culantro or cilantro leaves in the mixing bowl, chop 5 sec/speed 5, then continue with step 1.
  • Picadillo freezes well. Cool it, pack it flat in freezer bags and keep it up to 3 months for quick empanadillas, pastelón or stuffed peppers.
  • If your family is divided on raisins, leave them out of the bowl and serve them on the side.
  • Keeps 4 days in the fridge. Reheat covered, with a spoonful of water if it looks dry.

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