FUN NEW TAKE ON A TRADITIONAL DISH
Picadillo is a traditional dish in many Latin American countries. Each country makes it slightly different but with similar base ingredients such as tomato, meat, and veggies. What I think makes picadillo so special are a few ingredients you may think seem out of place.
Raisins and Green Olives!
Raisins add a touch of sweetness and green olives add a touch of brininess.
I wanted to update this traditional recipe slightly so instead of raisins I used currents and I decided to add a touch of heat with a little harissa.
Harissa is a hot chili paste and is wonderful added to just about anything! You can make your own or buy it premade at the store. It amps up the flavor in this recipe and gives this Picadillo with Currents, Green Olives and Harrisa a little spice.
Sweet, savory, and spicy. The perfect combo!
For this recipe, I also used grass-fed grass-finished beef from Triple T a ranch and farm located in north central South Dakota. Roy, the owner has an incredible autoimmune healing story which I am excited to share with you. Stories can be so powerful! Reading other’s stories of healing is what gave me hope throughout my own journey. Roy not only healed his body but he discovered the importance of eating foods the way nature intended and was also called to follow his passion. You can find Roy’s story here.
The quality of the food you consume is critical to your health regardless of whether or not you struggle with autoimmunity. One food that quality should be a no-compromise is meat. If you consume meat you should take the time to understand where it is coming from. There is a stark difference between conventionally raised meat and grass-fed grass-finished meat.
WHY GRASS-FED GRASS-FINISHED MATTERS
You may be familiar with grass-fed beef. It has become much more readily available and can be found at almost every grocery store. However, just because it is labeled as “grass-fed” it does not mean the animal’s entire diet consisted of only grass. The term grass-fed is unregulated and can be used as a label on meat that was grass-fed only for a small part of an animal’s life. Most grass-fed meat on the market comes from animals that were grass-fed but then finished on grain feed. Grass-finished means the cow ate only grass and plants for its entire life.
Why does this matter? Grass-fed grass-finished beef is by far the most nutrient-dense beef you can buy. It is high in conjugated linolenic acid (CLA), a fatty acid that has been shown to have anti-carcinogenic effects. It also contains more omega-3 fatty acids which are critical for hormone function, cognition and regulation of inflammation. In addition to omega-3 grass-feed, grass-finished beef is higher in B vitamins, vitamin E, magnesium, and potassium.
What an animal eats should be a deciding factor when it comes to purchasing beef but so should animal welfare as well as regenerative soil practices. Triple T’s goal is to produce food they feel good about – food that is grown responsibly, and not just sustainably, but regeneratively. According to God’s brilliant design. These are words directly from Roy’s mouth and I can’t tell you how much I love this goal statement.
WHY SOIL HEALTH MATTERS TOO
Tiple T uses regenerative soil practices. There are 5 principles of soil health that they follow. You can find the below information on their website.
- Limit Soil Disturbance: Anytime they plant a crop they use a no till drill that limits the amount of soil that is disturbed. This limited disturbance helps keep the biology under the topsoil growing and thriving.
- Armor On The Soil Surface: Whether they are combining a crop off of a field, or grazing a pasture or cover crop field they make every effort to leave as much plant residue on the field. This aids in keeping the soil temperatures in a good range and also acts as a mulch to hold moisture as well as protect the soil surface from driving rains that would typically wash the topsoil away. Another added benefit is weed suppression, this makes it so that they don’t have to use near as much chemical when combatting weeds in the field. NOTE: they NEVER spray any plants that their cattle graze on.
- Plant Diversity: This is where cover crops come in to play. Cover crops are a seed mixture that is planted all together. They typically like to have several different plant species growing at once on as many of their fields as possible. Growing several different species of plants together creates a symbiotic relationship between the plants. As the plants begin to rely on each other, the biology beneath the soil begins to thrive as these plants pull in large amounts of carbon from the air and pump it into the soil. There are several more reasons why plant diversity is so important but to sum it up as the soil health increases the nutrient density of the plant’s increases too. As the cattle eat these nutrient-dense plants the nutrition is passed right on to the consumer! They always plant a specific mixture to finish their animals on. These mixtures typically consist of plants like Native Grass, Tame Grass, Sudan Grass, Millet, Annual Rye Grass, Oats, Cereal Rye, Alfalfa, Collards, Field Peas, Lentils, and Hairy Vetch just to name a few.
- Keep Living Roots In The Soil: As stated above when they have a crop that comes off of a field, they try their best to get a cover crop mix in the ground as soon as possible. If there is a living root in the ground the biology under the surface is happy and thriving.
- Integrate Animals: This is key for developing healthy soils, running their cattle on the cover crop acres is wonderful for the animals, but it is almost as good for the soil. When a plant is bitten it has to pull in much more carbon from the air and pump it into the soil to attract the needed biology to repair the plant. They don’t want to overgraze these plants but they do want to graze across them and move on. The animal herd also brings lots of beneficial insects, birds, and other wildlife that really helps to create a healthy functioning ecosystem.
We are blessed to have farmers like Roy following these practices working to heal the ecosystem and planet. The more I have learned about where my food comes from the more important it has become to support farmers like Roy who are truly making a difference in this world. If you are interested in learning more about Triple T’s offering head over to their website.
BACK TO THE RECIPE
Ok, now that you know a little more about grass-fed grass-finished meat and regenerative soil practices lets get back to the recipe! This recipe is super fast and easy to throw together and makes great leftovers. It is perfect served over white rice or cauliflower rice. It is also delish over a baked sweet potato or topped with an egg. Really the options are endless.
I hope you enjoy this new take on a classic picadillo as much as I do! If you give this one a try let me know your thoughts in the comments!
- 3 Tbsp avocado oil
- 2 yellow onions chopped
- 4 cloves of garlic minced
- 1 orange, red or yellow bell pepper chopped
- 28 oz can of fire roasted crushed tomatoes
- 1 lb grass-fed grass-finished ground beef
- 2 Tbsp red wine, white wine or champagne vinegar
- 1 Tbsp cinnamon
- 1 Tbsp cumin seeds or ground cumin
- 4 bay leaves
- pinch of nutmeg and ground cloves
- ½ cup currents + additional for topping
- 1 can of green olives drained
- 2-4 Tbsp harissa depending on prefered level of heat
- 1 bunch cilantro chopped for topping
- Chop onion, garlic and bell pepper.
- In a large pot add avocado oil, allow to heat slightly and then add onion, garlic and bell pepper. Cook over medium heat until fragrant and onions become translucent.
- Add ground beef and cook until browned.
- Add fire-roasted tomatoes including all liquid
- Add harissa, vinegar, cinnamon, cumin seeds/ground cumin, bay leaves, nutmeg, ground cloves, salt, and pepper.
- Allow to simmer covered for 30 min on low heat.
- Add additional salt and pepper to taste and stir in currents and olives right before serving.
- Serve over white rice or cauliflower rice and top with a sprinkle of cilantro.